Sad, and a warning about doing business with a completely different culture, mindset, and ethics, to what we would consider normal.
I remember back maybe 20 years when trade with China was opening up, a carpet making factory in a small North Island town got a huge order from the Chinese military.
Thinking this was a major break they ramped up production, beginning shift work, and sending shipments to China, foolishly without getting the money first.
No money ever arrived and the company eventually told the Chinese they were out of money and could not continue unless they were paid.
They never did get paid and the factory which had been a major employer in the town was broke and shut down.
A director of the company was interviewed on TV news and asked why they had allowed so much debt to run up, he said they thought they were dealing with the Chinese army and so the Chinese government, and this would be 100% reliable. IE, he was judging their morals and ethics, by Kiwi standards.
A Chinese friend who moved here told me everything is totally corrupt in China, someone would have pocketed the money or most likely there was an organized system for grifting money and who would get exactly what. Knowing that a little NZ company could do nothing.
I since committed that whole thing to memory, to keep me out of trouble if I ever do business with mainland China.
www.stuff.co.nz
