Foreign Firms Hunker Down in China --- Motorola and Others Keep Pouring in Billions Despite Frustrations

• Published in: The Wall Street journal Asia
• Main Author: By Craig S. Smith and Marcus W. Brauchli
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Victoria, Hong Kong Dow Jones & Company Inc 24.02.1995
• Subjects: Economic reform; Electronics industry; Restaurants
• ISSN: 0377-9920

TIANJIN, China -- These are trying times for foreign investors in China, though a visitor to Motorola Inc.'s gleaming factory here might never guess it. The modern building, part of the electronics company's $300 million commitment to China so far, is standard Motorola issue. Technicians, some U.S.-trained, pad around automated cleanrooms in white bunny suits; even the cafeteria sparkles. Motorola's China revenue seems to justify it all: Last year, its cellular-telephone and pager sales topped $1.5 billion. "We're not putting all our eggs in the China nest," says Jerome Monod, chairman of Lyonnaise des Eaux, a French public-works giant. "But we think we cannot afford to be out of China." He knows the challenge China can present: He had just flown in from France to sign a slew of major water-treatment deals in China, only to find two abruptly cut back owing to "complications" on the Chinese side.