Dealing with decoupling from China: Business strategies in a changing world

©: Anja Bauermann / Unsplash
©: Anja Bauermann / Unsplash

On March 8, 2024 Frank Pieke and Bert Hofman gave a presentation at the Campus The Hague Leiden University about their research project 'Dealing with Decoupling'.

How do companies with business operations inside China deal with the push to decouple or de-risk. Over 60 companies from The Netherlands, Germany, Japan and Singapore were interviewed. The interviews, combined with extensive data analysis provided some interesting answers. One insight: most companies have already taken into account the pitfalls of doing business in China. Interestingly, the biggest worry is not the Chinese government, but policy changes coming from Washington. Some fear they may be confronted with sanctions for business activities that the US may decide are against American interests. The report therefore cautions governments against following US directives at any cost, but rather also take into account if this is in line with their own interests.

Read the full report here

Watch the presentation below:

 

LeidenAsiaCentre

The aim of the LeidenAsiaCentre is to generate academic knowledge on modern East Asia that can find societal applications in the Netherlands. The LeidenAsiaCentre focuses primarily on East Asia: China (including Taiwan), Japan, Korea and Singapore, but is expanding its focus to include South and Southeast Asia, notably India and the Indo-Pacific. As an independent NGO by Dutch law, the LeidenAsiaCentre identifies topics related to social-economic and political developments within Asia that are of relevance for the Netherlands and Europe at large.

East Asia Institute

The East Asian Institute (EAI) was set up in April 1997 as an autonomous research organization under a statute of the National University of Singapore. The main mission of EAI is to promote both academic and policy-oriented research on East Asian development, particularly the political, economic and social development of contemporary China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan), and China’s growing economic relations with the region and the world at large, including Japan, Korea and ASEAN.