In the summer of 2014 the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) raided a number of foreign companies suspected of violating Beijing’s Anti Monopoly Law (AML). At the same time, senior executives at the Chinese operations of a large multinational were meeting to deliberate a demand from the authorities that they change their pricing policies.
The company’s chief financial officer and legal counsel argued that there was no legal basis for the instruction, and recommended rejecting it. According to one person familiar with the deliberations, they were overruled by a more senior colleague who said: “Don’t talk to me about rule of law, this is China.”
The company’s China pricing policies were duly adjusted and the company’s operations — unlike those of many of their competitors — were never raided or fined.