One would think that a billion dollar project would command a little respect. Certainly, when car giant General Motors signed an agreement to put its weight behind a US$1.5 billion car plant in Shanghai there was plenty of fanfare.
United States Vice President Al Gore was on hand for the signing ceremony and each stage of the project gained the attention of the Chinese media from Shanghai to Beijing.
But a US$1.6 billion semiconductor project backed by an influential Taiwan group has met a curiously muted response from the mainland's official media.
While this project is arguably as important to the future economic development of Shanghai, it is treading on sensitive ground. The project involves Jiang Mianheng, the son of President Jiang Zemin.
While China has a rich history of letting the sons and daughters of the ruling elite delve into business ventures, it does not see this as a subject for public discussion. Newspapers briefly reported Saturday's ground-breaking ceremony at Shanghai Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing in the Zhangjiang High-Tech Park in the city's Pudong district but with considerable caution.
They noted that a certain Mr Jiang attended the ceremonies in his capacity as vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Not even in the fine print did one see a reference to the fact that he is deputy chairman at the company or that his father is the 'core of the third generation' of China's leadership.
The younger Mr Jiang is no slouch and is probably one of the more capable individuals to benefit from rather good connections in Beijing. But the official treatment of this important investment highlights the lack of transparency on the mainland and the reluctance of the leadership to stand up to public scrutiny.
