China, Utah, and the LDS Church…
A couple of quick thoughts about this China-Utah connections article:
Practically speaking, separation of the LDS Church and state is probably almost impossible in Utah. For example, my mother is deeply religious and was the longest-serving elected woman in Utah history (22 years). Many times while I was working in China she would email me about a bill and ask about PRC/Taiwan issues. I know that she earnestly prayed about everything she voted on and regularly talked with Elder Perry (Brother-in-law, Quorum of the 12 Apostles) while the senate was in session. Additionally, Utah likely has more non-ethnic-Chinese Mandarin and Cantonese-speaking people than anywhere else in the world due to the Church’s missionary program. And when the prophet tells people that he himself is learning Mandarin, it sends a message. BYU has one of the best Chinese language programs in the US and UVU has a 400-level Business Chinese class—one of very few available anywhere in the US (BYU doesn’t even have one).
I remember hearing stories of how well-connected the Church was with the CCP and its humanitarian services in China. The Church wants to have good relations with every government (including NK and govt’s in the ME) to achieve their own religious ends. I personally think that this is commendable but often puts naive or just well-meaning but unaware members of the Church in precarious positions. Add to this religiously zealous environment the fact that Utah is also one of the leaders in the US for entrepreneurs—many doing international business via their LDS-mission-learned language skills—who thrive on one on one business connections, similar to the Chinese.
I lived and work in China as a sourcing agent and QA, so to some degree, I’m culpable for helping many Utah companies feed the China growth story. My wife is Chinese and our family still lives there. I have children from Hong Kong and Taiwan and two sons that served Mandarin-speaking LDS missions (Taiwan and England). Similar to mine, so many lives are intertwined like this—and people don’t want to believe that they are being influenced by the CCP.
But the truth is, anyone doing business in China is likely compromised to some degree, myself included—at least there is a conflict of interests where profits are concerned. I’m still very conflicted about how to best do business with China. And I express my concerns in the class I teach at UVU (MGMT 4620 Doing Business with China); working with China is a fraught endeavor that requires a clear understanding of the cost of making money in that politicized environment.
Why do foreigners not get it? Simply put, the understanding of espionage, corporate ownership, nationalism, and relationships are different in China. In my PhD work on Chinese corporations in Thailand I was specifically told by C-level Chinese how they work with and through the state to gain access to Thailand and the markets in ASEAN—“suitcases of cash.” It’s not hidden to anyone that speaks Mandarin and is willing to ask (uncomfortable) questions—but most businessmen from the US do neither.
Any foreigner that works with/for a China-govt-connected organization (literally almost all decent-size businesses) and tells you that they don’t know about government involvement in business is either lying or (willfully) ignorant of how China works. Period.
Having made that claim, let me be specific, I would bet that the majority of business people and students from the West who are in China have no idea who the CCP/government agents in their associated busses are (and there is one in every business that works with foreigners), nor about how deeply connected the government is in the businesses they work with.
And they wouldn’t believe it if you told them.
Most businessmen that I talk with say something like, “The Chinese are just like us—they want to make money, they don’t care about politics.” This is supposed to mean that there isn’t politics in business and we can all just keep making money with no worries. But that’s the CCP line for foreigners, and it’s willful ignorance on the part of anyone that believes it. “Nothing to see here, folks. Move along,” is SOP for government involvement in most domestic businesses, universities, and R&D in China. (Just because no one in the US likes the IRS doesn’t mean that it doesn’t influence how we do business.) And any Chinese with connections to or working in a sensitive industry (anything tech/bio/ev/med/data/fin/comms) is considered by the CCP to be a state asset, whether they want to be one or not. If you’ve got tech/expertise from abroad that China doesn’t yet have, you’re a target—even if you “never see it.”
Other than religion, and the datedness of the quotes, this article is true about EVERY state and government in the US (and Canada—see recent MP story). There are studies that show that the Chinese pay for junkets for just about any US Fed/State government official that will take them up on the offer. Influence is their goal and their pitch is: “China is beautiful, the people are wonderful, and there is a lot of opportunity here. (Just don’t look behind the red curtain.)” It’s true! It’s enticing. And it’s easy to ignore the problems when there is money to be made—again, real, but not an exclusively Utah or LDS Church phenomenon.
