If you are reading Paul Middler's book about China, you probably don't know about China, because clearly Paul Middler doesn't know China[1].
[1]: https://www.scmp.com/culture/books/article/2125044/book-revi...
Thanks for the link, I am gonna read about it and see what's being debated.
The company policy is to not allow internet on machines connected to the company network. They say that it is very typical on China for companies to try to atract workers from the competition, and these take with them not only know-how, but internal files from the company they leave too. Hence the firewalling.
It's ridiculous because I'm speaking of consumer electronics, not the military. The team morale is super low because they are fighting against the environment, not the problem they want to solve.
Maybe they only want to crash the western subsidiary and get the prestigious brand name(?). Anyways it seems that they are getting a taste of their own medicine.
> Over the past decade, China has demonstrated serious resolve to enforce an effective IP rights regime, and to bring the system in line with other developed systems in the US and Europe
I think this is entirely questionable where you have rampant IP theft [1][2] (I can recall couple of major recent incidents), and the claim that 1 in 5 US companies face IP theft in China [3]. The Chinese government wants to attract foreign businesses and number 1 concern for any western company when they want to do business in China is IP. It doesn't surprise me that the Chinese government is drumming up its stance on IP protection.
Lack of respect for IP runs deep in Chinese culture, articulated in great detail by Paul Middler in his book "What's wrong with China?". Having worked in China for a long period, there is no better summary of the Chinese business culture.
[1] Huawei Case: https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-prosecutors-probe-huawei-on...
[2] Micron Case: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/22/technology/china-micron-c...
[3] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/28/1-in-5-companies-say-china-s...