As China’s Capvision probe ends, foreign investors remain skittish
- After months of investigation, consultancy passes security assessment, but investors are not convinced their China operations are secure
- ‘Sustainable’ period of policy adjustment needed to ease concerns, analysts said
While Chinese officials have rolled out the red carpet to convince foreign investors to remain or return, and domestic analysts have said the end of the inquiry suggests a turning of the page, scepticism still prevails.
“The messages China sends are sometimes inconsistent,” said David Zweig, an emeritus professor with Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Multinationals, he added, were still looking for clear signs that China’s business environment would become more reliable and predictable.
“It needs to stabilise its policies for a sustainable time before the West and its [investors] in China will feel that the country has turned the corner,” Zweig said.
In May – less than two months before amendments to China’s anti-espionage law went into effect – Capvision saw its offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Suzhou raided and staff questioned by national security police over suspected leaks of sensitive military intelligence to its foreign clients.
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Beijing raids offices of consulting firm Capvision in widening crackdown over national security