Competitive Intelligence

Tactical, Operational & Strategic Analysis of Markets, Competitors & Industries

The Murky World of Business Intelligence in China

 BEIJING—The British businessman whose death has emerged as a key element in China's biggest political scandal in two decades periodically consulted for a British strategic-intelligence firm founded by ex-spies, a spokesman said Monday..................

 

The revelation adds a layer of intrigue to the scandal, which increasingly appears to mix the worlds of international diplomacy and corporate sleuthing with China's shadowy domestic security apparatus and opaque politics.......................

 

 Suspicions about Mr. Heywood's death were raised by Wang Lijun, the former Chongqing police chief who triggered the political drama, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. Mr. Wang, who sought refuge from Mr. Bo in the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6, claimed to have fallen out with Mr. Bo after discussing with him his belief that Mr. Heywood was poisoned, according to people familiar with the matter. He also claimed Mr. Heywood had been involved in a business dispute involving Mr. Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, according to one of those people........................

 

Gathering business intelligence and investigating Chinese firms is a growing industry here, and inevitably those engaged in it often delve into issues of corruption, nepotism and vested bureaucratic interests..............

 

According to diplomats and other people familiar with the matter, Mr. Wang, the former police chief, asked for political asylum in the U.S. consulate in Chengdu and presented what he said was documentary evidence involving Mr. Bo. He was rejected because U.S. officials feared accepting him would severely damage relations with China. He was persuaded to hand himself over to Chinese central-government officials who took him to Beijing................

 

Mr. Wang's case is raising interest in Congress, as leading lawmakers are seeking to find out if the Obama administration denied him political asylum............

 

Mystery Deepens in Death of Briton in China .

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304177104577305532056...

 

 

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Where do you think Neil Heywood should have drawn the line in Strategic Intelligence / Business Intelligence /Due Diligence etc.,?

 

May Neil Heywood  "Rest in Peace"

I wonder why police chief, Wang Lijun, sought refuge inside a US consulate. And, Why did Americans compromise police chief, Wang Lijun. Message sent to Chinese Public: If you try to be smart and become a Whistle-blower, you will be handed back to the Chinese Government. Ha..ha..ha..

It sure is a murky affair and a reminder to all of us who are living and working in China to stay well within accepted limits for information gathering. Yet another reason for Open Source, I guess. Besides the frequent interference of the Great Firewall I have not encountered any problems with Competitive Intelligence in China. I do not know what Heywood was involved in, so I cannot say if what he did was illegal. 

Klaus

Heywood was more of a fixer and in a different realm than that of business/competitive intelligence. Also, there is more to Wang's consulate visit than meets the eye. Perhaps we will never know the full story; however, it does not cast a pall on true decision support in China as a whole.

BEIJING: Chinese censors have blocked internet content speculating a military coup amid reports of serious power struggle within the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that threatens to disrupt a smooth transition of power when its general secretary and President Hu Jintao completes his term later this year. 

The struggle has come to the fore after the party's Chongqing city head Bo Xilai was removed from his post as his deputy had reportedly sought asylum in the US. Bo, who is a CCP founding member's son, was a contender for the party's top post. 

Insiders describe the struggle as one between the group representing princelings -- the offspring of old revolutionaries -- and those opposing them. Vice president Xi Jinping, a princeling, is seen as Hu's successor. 

"Some people at the top are childhood friends and children of national heroes. There is a group supporting these princelings and another one opposing it," a university teacher, who is closely associated with the CCP, told TOI. He is among millions of excited Communist cadre watching the unfolding drama. 

Many of them have been posting "information'' about the alleged coup and photographs of tanks and armored vehicles on Beijing's streets on Chinese version of Twitter -- Weibo. But reports said some of the pictures were old ones from military rehearsals. Experts said the rumors gained much traction due to the prevailing political situation in the country and the talk about infighting ahead of the CCP once-in-a-decade leadership shuffle. 

The ongoing struggle is also about the fight for supremacy between the party's pro-reform and the hardcore pro-Maoists sections. The Maoist faction still exerts some influence in China. 

Bo, who was tipped for a position in the CCP's powerful politburo standing committee, has a huge following among the hardline elements because he has been the only leader openly advocating Mao Zedong's policies and opposing the "capitalist class" produced by the party's new economic policies. Bo's removal led to suspicions that the pro-reform section was trying to completely wipe out the other group. 

The party gave Bo an opportunity to publicly explain himself at a press conference, which was attended by the foreign media. This was a rare exception made for a party member under a cloud, partly because he wields great influence in both the party and the People's Liberation Army. In fact, Beijing is agog with rumors that a section of the PLA is determined to protect Bo in case criminal charges are pressed against him.


http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera...

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Communist Party has decided to expel former leadership contender Bo Xilai from the elite Central Committee, sources said on Tuesday, citing a decision likely to disclose details of a scandal that has shaken a looming leadership succession.

The four sources, who all requested anonymity, said the ruling party had made the decision after investigating Bo, the former party chief of Chongqing municipality in southwest China, over a scandal that emerged after his vice mayor, Wang Lijun, fled into a U.S. consulate for 24 hours in February.

Wang's flight triggered a series of revelations, including questions about the death of a British businessman close to Bo's family, and Bo was dismissed as Chongqing party chief in mid-March. The party settles on a new top leadership late this year, and Bo had been widely seen as campaigning for a post in it.

Bo has been removed from the Central Committee, a council of some 200 senior officials who meet about once a year, and from the Politburo, a more powerful body of about two dozen Central Committee members, said the sources.

The decision effectively ends Bo's political career.

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/wire-news/china-removes-bo-xilaiel... 

Again, these are posts related to BXL and I do not see the tie to business intelligence.

Pieces on the Heywood case are coming together now, no connection to CI

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/04/2012416132034816...

Klaus

I was looking at the angle ie an Intelligence practioner got "Canned". This Intelligence practionisher was assisting foreign companies in Emerging Markets in China.  

 

Competitive Intelligence = "Assisting foreign companies in emerging markets".  

 

 

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