When I recently sat down with a multilingual interpreter in Shanghai, we talked about geopolitical tensions and trade. He was less anxious than I expected. He looked beyond the day’s headlines to the longer direction of China’s development.
I did not agree with everything he said, but our conversation reminded me that a news cycle is a poor substitute for understanding what a country intends to build. For lawyers advising clients in China, the immediate commercial question matters. So do the policy priorities that may determine whether a venture succeeds.
I have come to think of this in three words: Build. Your. Dreams.
1. Build
In China, you have to act, not just talk, to be relevant. Timing and atmosphere matter. If you catch a policy wave, you may find an opportunity to grow. If you spend so long discussing a transaction that the opportunity passes, even excellent drafting will not bring it back.
That does not mean the contractual details are unimportant. Lawyers need to consider intellectual property, data transfers, payment, governance and what happens if the relationship breaks down. The challenge is to address those questions at a pace that works for the client and the market.
In the years after China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, many foreign businesses entered with a product they believed was the best in its field. Today, the question may be what they and a Chinese partner can build together, including for markets beyond China.
The Fifteenth Five-Year Plan is part of that context. Its priorities include sectors such as robotics, biomedicine and new energy. A solicitor advising on a proposed partnership needs to understand how the client’s plans fit the relevant policy and regulatory framework, as well as the partner’s capabilities.
Good builders
Companies that understand how to build know how to negotiate. I have seen visitors arrive with a full schedule: the factory on day one, the town and its history on day two, and meetings on day three. By then, a visitor who is unused to the pace and suffering from jet lag may be eager to sign. I call it “Day 3”.
Good builders arrive knowing what they need from the deal and where they can compromise. Their lawyers should know too. The sweet spot lies between policy priorities, the proposed partner’s capabilities and the client’s own expertise.
DJI and Hasselblad offer an example of a partnership between Chinese and European businesses. DJI acquired a minority stake in the Swedish camera company in 2015, and the two went on to develop products together. The lesson for a lawyer is to understand precisely what each party contributes, what each expects in return and how that relationship is protected as it develops.
Bad builders
Bad builders can lose sight of the transaction while arguing over details. They may win a point in negotiation but miss the policy or commercial development that made the deal attractive in the first place.
I have also seen the opposite problem: parties so eager to proceed that they have not worked through what will happen when their interests diverge. A lawyer’s role is to keep both risks in view. The client needs a workable agreement and a clear understanding of the environment in which it will operate.
China in 2026 is not the China I knew in 2019. In negotiations, I have seen Chinese parties take a more confident position. Foreign partners should be prepared to discuss collaboration rather than assume they will set every term. That makes questions of control, information-sharing, intellectual property and dispute resolution more important, not less.
For solicitors advising clients on China, understanding policy priorities is part of assessing a transaction’s prospects. It must sit alongside partner due diligence, regulatory approvals, intellectual property, data transfers and enforceable dispute-resolution terms. The task is to help clients move at a commercially useful pace with a clear view of the legal risks.
2. Your
To succeed in China, I have found it helps to move beyond “us” versus “them”. A partnership cannot work if each side sees the other only as a route into a market.
I remember a moment in 2009 that changed my thinking. I had introduced a client to a colleague on one matter and later discovered that they had undertaken a separate property transaction. I worried about whether I might be held responsible if the advice on that transaction proved wrong. I also felt, at first, that I should have been told.
After a long period of reflection, I realised that making the introduction did not give me control over the client’s other decisions. I said nothing about the separate deal. That experience led me to think about what I call POP: parallel opportunity for profit. People who meet through one transaction may find other opportunities through their own relationships, expertise and connections.
POP is my way of describing a commercial reality, not a replacement for contracts or professional duties. Lawyers still need to establish who their client is, what they have been instructed to do and whether a separate transaction raises any legal or ethical issue. They should not, however, assume that every opportunity arising from a relationship belongs to the person who made the introduction.
Signing an agreement is one task. Making it work is another. Clients need to know whom they are dealing with, how decisions will be made and what practical options they will have if a commitment is not honoured. Relationships matter, but they are strongest when both parties understand the terms.
Choosing the right circle
A luxury sports brand once explored building a golf course in a rural part of China. I asked a Beijing friend what prospect there was of obtaining permission. He thought it unlikely because the proposed use of the land would conflict with local priorities. He suggested looking at a different sport and location.
His view was not a legal ruling, but it was a prompt to ask the right questions before the client invested further time and money. Local advice could then test the applicable planning rules, permissions and policy position. The right circle helps a lawyer identify those questions early; it does not remove the need to answer them properly.
3. Dreams
China remains a place where clients can think on a large scale. They may see possibilities in its manufacturing capacity, infrastructure, technology and access to markets. A lawyer who understands the client’s ambition can help turn that dream into a plan capable of being carried out.
That requires more than arriving with a standard agreement. Lawyers should help clients identify the partner best placed to deliver the project, the decisions each side will control and the risks they can reasonably accept. As one Chinese friend said to me, “talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not”. Our role is to help clients recognise an opportunity and put it on sound footing.
I have seen the value of continuity through my work at DLA Piper. A long-standing presence in Shanghai has allowed colleagues to develop relationships and an understanding of how clients’ needs and the wider environment have changed. For an international firm, that knowledge is useful when advising on a new proposal; it cannot be acquired during a three-day visit.
I have also spent six years in the Beijing Ethics Network, where senior managers discussed foreign businesses that had run into difficulty in China. The circumstances differed, but some discussions returned to the conduct of individuals who assumed that distance from home gave them greater freedom to act as they pleased. The consequences for a business and its relationships could last much longer than the individual’s posting. Lawyers advising on expansion need to consider governance and conduct alongside the terms of the deal.
There is a Chinese saying: “One mountain cannot have two tigers.” For a foreign business, it is a reminder to understand the country in which it hopes to operate. A client can enter a market, launch a product and build something with a Chinese partner, but it cannot expect to control the surrounding policy environment.
My advice to lawyers is to help clients pursue the opportunity with their eyes open: understand the policy direction, choose partners carefully, agree terms that can work in practice and plan for disagreements before they arise. That is how you give a dream the best chance of being built.
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