From: lessgovt@gmail.com   
      
   China Locks Information on the Country Inside a Black Box   
   By Wei, Kubota and Strumpf, April 30, 2023, WSJ   
      
   China’s party-state, long steeped in secrecy, is creating a black box around   
   info on the world’s 2nd-largest economy, alarming global businesses and   
   investors.   
      
   Prodded by Xi Jinping’s emphasis on national security, authorities in recent   
   months have restricted or outright cut off overseas access to various   
   databases involving corporate-registration information, patents, procurement   
   documents, academic journals    
   and official statistical yearbooks.   
      
   Of extra concern in recent days: Access to one of the most crucial databases   
   on China, Shanghai-based Wind Info. Co., whose economic and financial data are   
   widely used by analysts and investors both inside and outside the country,   
   appears to be drying up.   
      
   Following recent expansion of China’s anti-espionage law, aimed at fighting   
   perceived foreign threats, many foreign think tanks, research firms and other   
   nonfinancial entities are finding they can’t renew subscriptions to Wind   
   over what Wind    
   described as “compliance” issues, according to interviews with Western   
   researchers and macroeconomic analysts.   
      
   A Wind service rep said in an email response that customers who want to renew   
   their contracts need to contact their account managers. The rep didn’t   
   elaborate.   
      
   The increased restrictions on info come as Beijing has embarked on a campaign   
   to scrutinize and pressure Western management consultants, auditors and other   
   service providers that multinational companies rely on to assess risks in   
   China.   
      
   The two-pronged approach is part of a broader effort to tighten the Communist   
   Party’s control on how the rest of the world forms its views on China,   
   according to business executives who have consulted with Chinese authorities.   
   It is also an effort to    
   essentially close off China from foreign influence, they say.   
      
   Behind the push, they say, is a deepening conviction held by Xi, China’s   
   most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, that the West—the U.S. in   
   particular—poses existential threats to the party’s hold on power. Xi   
   presided over a Politburo meeting this    
   past week that stressed the need to “better coordinate development and   
   security”—party-speak widely interpreted as a signal that fending off   
   foreign threats takes priority over embracing foreign investment.   
      
   China’s State Council Info Office didn’t respond to a request for comment   
   sent on Sunday. A spokesman at the Chinese Embassy in Washington said Friday   
   that “China is committed to protecting foreign businesses’ lawful rights   
   and interests and    
   creating a favorable environment for foreign investment.”   
      
   The broad Chinese effort is unnerving foreign businesses and investors already   
   grappling with heightened geopolitical risks associated with their investments   
   in China. It comes as U.S. and other foreign companies need even more   
   corporate intelligence to    
   navigate China’s increasingly complex business environment, partly due to   
   U.S. sanctions targeting hundreds of Chinese entities and countermoves by   
   Beijing.   
      
   Worsening U.S.-China relations have already caused many C-suite execs to think   
   about moving some operations out of China or otherwise reduce their China   
   exposure.   
      
   “The harder the govt makes it to understand China, by definition that will   
   make the Chinese market less attractive to capital, especially long-term   
   commitments,” said Gary Rieschel, a venture capitalist who has invested in   
   China for more than three    
   decades.   
      
   In a statement Friday about China’s investment climate, the U.S. Chamber of   
   Commerce, the largest business lobbying group in America, singled out the   
   intensified govt scrutiny of professional-services firms that multinationals   
   use for risk evaluation,    
   warning that the action “dramatically increases the uncertainties and risks   
   of doing business” in China.   
      
   Among the firms being targeted by authorities: U.S. consulting firm Bain &   
   Co., which said staff at its Shanghai office were recently questioned by   
   Chinese police; U.S. due-diligence firm Mintz Group, which said staff members   
   at its Beijing office were    
   detained after a raid; U.K. auditor Deloitte’s Beijing office, whose   
   operations have been suspended until June on top of an about $31 million fine   
   over alleged lapses in its auditing of a state-owned asset-management firm.   
   Deloitte has said it respects    
   the penalty decision.   
      
   In addition, Chinese police in recent months paid a surprise visit to the   
   Shanghai office of Capvision, a provider of expert consultations and research   
   services based in New York and Shanghai, according to people close to the   
   firm. The police questioned    
   Capvision’s local employees about the names of Chinese experts in its   
   network, the people said. Shanghai police and Capvision didn’t respond to   
   requests for comment.   
      
   While foreign executives operating in China say meetings with or visits by   
   authorities aren’t necessarily unusual, the detentions and general intensity   
   of the current campaign have been notable, especially as the push has been   
   paired with tightening    
   access to databases like Wind.   
      
   “On the grounds of national security, foreign access to various databases   
   has been restricted,” said Gerard DiPippo, a China expert at the CSIS, a   
   Washington think tank. “The net effect will be less to improve China’s   
   national security and more    
   to isolate China from overseas researchers trying to understand the country.”   
      
   The current campaign signals that Beijing feels confident that companies rely   
   too much on China to pick up and leave. Many foreign companies still see China   
   as a crucial market, and companies including those that sell to Chinese   
   consumers have sought to    
   boost their footprint in the country now that pandemic restrictions have   
   ended. A string of senior foreign executives have paid visits in recent months   
   to check in with local offices and attend government-backed conferences.    
      
   But recent surveys also show more American and European companies are shifting   
   priorities to countries other than China when making their investment   
   decisions.    
      
   The continuing move to wall off China has been years in the making. Beijing   
   started to beef up laws and regulations aimed at guarding what it broadly   
   defines as state secrets since 2010, under Xi’s predecessor, Hu Jintao.    
      
      
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