OPPS!
Friday, Oct 1 1999 12:09PM ET
Reply # of 11071
SEAC can have China. A country with no Rule of Law is no place to do business.
China Unicom to cut out foreign firms
Compiled by CBS MarketWatch
Last Update: 6:48 AM ET Oct 1, 1999
BEIJING (CBS.MW) -- China United Telecommunications Corp., the No. 2 Chinese
carrrier, told more than two dozen foreign companies in a letter that starting Friday they
would be cut out of money earned by their joint ventures. The companies -- including
Motorola Inc. (MOT: news, msgs), Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. (NTT:
news, msgs), France Telecom SA (FTE: news, msgs), Bell Canada International
Inc.(BCICF: news, msgs), Sprint Corp. (FON: news, msgs) and Cable & Wireless
HKT (HKT: news, msgs) plans to ask its main banks -- have invested more than $1.4
billion in joint ventures with China Unicom. More than a year ago, the Chinese
government began to hint that the investments were made illegally, contravening a
technical ban on investments in China's telecommunications industry. China Unicom had
offered to repay the invested money plus a small amount of interest, but few of the
foreign firms agreed to be bought out. The letter raises the pressure tactics.
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