China
- introductionA "known unknown"
The immense growth in China's sectors, as diverse as toy manufacture and
military planning, reveals the gravity of this country's role and importance in
the
21st century. As such, China's energy profile serves as "a window on the
soul
of her economy" and has thus been the subject of exhaustive research and
analysis.
China's local content conditions are taking shape in a particularly unusual way
and reflect broad trends across the nation; a determination at state level to
integrate into the world economy and liberalise domestic markets against a
backdrop of resistance at local level and social unrest.
Unlike the governments of other natural resource producing countries, Beijing is
actively seeking to eradicate local content regulation. In fact, there have not
been any official local content laws in the extractive sectors since 2002.
But, while the statute books have largely removed the body of such regulation,
it is clear that certain aspects of the rules of the game have not changed.
While
not spoken of directly or written into any regional charters, bureaucrats often
ensure that goods, services and materials are sourced locally – as it often
benefits their own interests.
In the absence of local content specific legislation, however, or universally
established practices, local content in China remains for the most part an area
of
uncertainty.