I don't know who "Gizmo" is, but he or she has just started a blog and as just the third post put up a very interesting and relevant piece on the topic of economic nationalism. This is an issue of pressing concern for everyone who does PR or marketing work for multinationals in China. China's love-hate relationship (more here) with foreign companies has always been a tricky proposition to manage. Sentiment can swing in a day based upon actions that wouldn't raise an eyebrow in other countries. Now that situation is being made even trickier by the rise of a more policy-oriented economic nationalism:
Today, an article in the Shenzhen Daily noted that the acquisition of Shineway, China's biggest meat processing operation, by Goldman Sachs has "hit a snag." What snag in particular? The snag of a growing movement in China against foreign investment.

At the annual meeting of China's National People's Congress in March 2006, several people's deputies angrily protested the growing number and pace of acquisitions of Chinese firms by foreign investors. One was quoted as saying, "If China lets multinationals' malicious mergers and acquisitions go ahead freely, China can only act as labor in the global supply chain." Other officials noted that China should take the necessary steps to protect its economic security it by placing restrictions on the entry of foreign firms.

These comments underpin a growing concern here about the role that foreign firms play in China's economic development. China has for many years been wary of foreign ownership of many of its industries. In its WTO negotiations, China won concessions on keeping many of its sectors off-limits for foreigners. There remains a long list of "restricted" or "prohibited" industries in China that include telecoms, energy, transport, and banking. These industries limit foreign ownership and, in some case, proscribe it outright.

But the latest round of anger over foreign investment has roots beyond China's traditional reluctance to open its borders to foreign capital. In part, this new sentiment stems from an ascendant nationalism sweeping the country. China's emergence as the world's fastest growing economy and its regular place on the front pages of newspapers around the world has spurred a ground swell of national pride. Many Chinese no longer see themselves as a developing country, but rather as one on the cusp of being the world's most powerful nation.
Go have a read.

Via Silicon Hutong.