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Path: Sourcing News & Advice
>> Import from
China Advice >> In Chinese negotiation, don't
confuse polite rhetoric with concerted strategy

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In Chinese negotiation, don't confuse polite rhetoric
with concerted strategy

Posted: August 15, 2014

by Andrew Hupert

American and European negotiators treat their Chinese counterparties’
“general principles” discussion like the “terms and conditions” screen – we just
check the box and look for the real content. Big mistake.

General Principles Discussion can come back to haunt careless
negotiators

Westerners in China often make important concessions without even knowing it.
It’s common for Chinese negotiators to frame their position with a discussion of
“general principles”. Westerners tend to shrug them off with vague agreement –
particularly since these conversations tend to be phrased in vague, wooden
rhetoric like “harmony and shared responsibility”. It all sounds like
meaningless propaganda to us, and it mixes easily with the toasts, proverbs,
unfamiliar historic references and folksy anecdotes that characterize a boozy
banquet night in Shanghai or Beijing. Western negotiators tend to focus on
transactions, and aggressive negotiators will make every effort to control the
negotiating agenda and nail down concrete deal points – but the Chinese side
never gives up on their deal points or general goals, regardless of the
appearance of compromise or concession.

The 6th SED – Strategic and Economic Dialogue – between the US and
China wrapped up last week, and US diplomats seemed to just be discovering
something that Western managers have known for a long time — Chinese negotiators
pay lip service to contentious issues, but don’t really change their objectives
or behaviors.

The
FT reported on American officials’ dismay that their efforts to influence
China’s aggressive behavior in South China Sea has been ineffective:

“In June 2012, senior US and Chinese officials
met in a hotel in southern Virginia to discuss a dangerous two-month stand-off
taking place in the South China Sea. At the time, dozens of government vessels
and fishing ships from China and the Philippines were massed in the lagoon of
Scarborough Shoal, a reef 120 nautical miles from the Philippines’ coast claimed
by both countries. A naval conflict seemed a real possibility. With typhoon
season fast approaching, the US tried to broker a resolution. By the end of the
meeting between Kurt Campbell, then the top US diplomat for Asia, and Fu Ying,
China’s vice foreign minister for Asia, the US side believed they had an
agreement for both sides to withdraw. The following week, the Philippines ships
left the Scarborough Shoal and returned home. The Chinese, however, stayed in
the area.”

Are Chinese Negotiators Liars?

American and European
negotiators who focus on transactions and believe that contracts control actions
often conclude that their Chinese counterparts are just lying when they go back
on agreements or ignore their own promises. The Chinese side, however, feels
that they are staying true to the goals and negotiating frameworks that the
Westerners already agreed to.

General Principles for the Western Negotiator in
China

1. Have your own “general principles” and start by negotiating them
in-house with your own people. You know in advance that the Chinese are
going to make a play for your assets and IP. What are you going to do about it?
Building on a strong foundation.

2. Avoid timing difference that have you injecting real assets now and
them performing services later. Develop incremental strategies and flexible
tactics. Chinese negotiators who violate contract terms don’t show up with guns
and masks like cartoon villains. It will be a battle of inches over years –
precisely the kind of conflict that Americans lose. What is your plan for when
they start swiping the coffee money and letting quality slide by 0.5% per order?
You need to prepare a response for low-intensity conflict.

3. Best efforts promises are worse than meaningless – they compel you
and require real concessions, but don’t constrain the Chinese side. Focus on
objective benchmarks and formal recognition of compliance & completion.

4. Don’t proceed until you understand exactly what they’re talking
about. If something is vague, clouded by rhetorical flourishes, or sounds
like an empty slogan, stop and unpack it. References to historical figures or
folksy aphorisms need to be examined. The real danger is that you will agree to
“general principles” without knowing it. While this might not be enforceable,
it justifies conflict and claims of “Western arrogance” when you try to
assert your own deal points. Conflict is a common and convenient
justification for breaking off deals – usually after you have transferred
technology or injected assets.

5. Plan for success. A year from now your brand will be more valuable
and you’ll know more – how will that alter your position with your Chinese
counterparties? Planning for success in China means having a growth strategy –
and an exit strategy.

You know this is going to happen. You know
that the Chinese will continue negotiating after the contract is signed and push
back on their own compromises, so plan in advance. Make sure your own
organization is behind you 100% by preparing your internal stakeholders in
advance.

Andrew
Hupert runs ChinaSolved.com, an online
platform that helps the international business community achieve greater success
when doing business in China. He also writes ChineseNegotiation.com.
He can be reached at [email-masked].

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