This week on the Sinica Podcast, Kaiser is joined by The China Project's CEO Bob Guterma, who just so happens to have served at Chief Compliance Officer (and later Managing Director for Europe and the U.S.) for the expert network Capvision. Capvision, as listeners may well be aware, was the Shanghai-based company whose offices in China were raided by Chinese law enforcement, resulting in the detention of two experts for allegedly passing on military secrets to foreign companies. Does this signal a major crackdown on consultancies? And what are the implications for foreign businesses in China? Bob shares his insights — and things are more complicated than you might think.

03:39 – Background information on Capvision

10:29 – The national security concerns in the Capvision case.

12:27 – Is there a connection between the case of Capvision with the previous cases of Bain and Mintz?

20:13 – Is there changing optics for Western companies doing business in China?

22:13 – The possible connection between the Capvision case and the Espionage Law

32:22 – The context of bigger changes in the past three years in China in light of achieving government goals.

34:34 – The inner workings of a compliance officer in expert networks

36:44 – Media outlets’ misconceptions and a lack of diligent research regarding the Capvision case

A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.

Recommendations:

Bob: Energy and Civilization: A History by Vaclav Smil

Kaiser: Mr. Bungle’s debut album Mr. Bungle

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Does the Capvision raid signal a crackdown on consultancies in China? The China Project's CEO Bob Guterma, formerly of Capvision, weighs in

Sinica Podcast