In April 1999, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji made a visit to Washington, D.C., to meet with President Bill Clinton. A few days earlier, the American president had delivered a speech voicing strong support for China’s admission into the World Trade Organization, a long held priority for Beijing. While acknowledging the Chinese Communist Party’s human rights abuses and other problems, Clinton stressed the hope that economic development would liberalize China.
“Is this a country to be engaged or isolated? Is this a country beyond our power to influence or a country that is ours to gain and ours to lose?” the president asked. Zhu was there to be gained.
From left to right, Zhu Rongji, Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Yo-Yo Ma. April 8, 1999. Credit: Reuters/Alamy Stock Photo via Alamy
At a White House dinner, Clinton introduced the Chinese premier to some of the 224 dignitaries in attendance: novelist Amy Tan, the Rev. Billy Graham, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Janet
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At first glance, the recent raid on Capvision, a Shanghai consultancy, looks similar to the raids on foreign firms Mintz Group and Bain & Company. But there are reasons to separate Beijing's crackdown on Capvision. For starters, Capvision is Chinese and its shareholders and investors include a network of remarkably high profile and state-connected individuals and companies.
