China is the winner of global chaos. Why has it chosen to invest in Spain?
El desembarco del gigante asiático en las fábricas de automóviles españolas responde a factores industriales y geopolíticos. Bruselas no se fía: el régimen de Pekín es un socio incómodo
In 2019, the documentary American Factory was released, the first from the production company of the Obama couple, which can be seen on Netflix. It is a story that was disconcerting at the time and seems less so today, about the arrival of Chinese investment in certain deindustrialized areas of the US Midwest. Dayton (Ohio) was living in depression due to the closure of the General Motors factory when the facility was acquired by a Chinese producer of windshields, Fuyao, which was welcomed as a lifeline.
The plant is taken over by the founder of that company, Cao Dewang, known as the Glass King, with a current fortune of $5 billion according to Forbes. We are told step by step, from an omnipresent camera, about the cultural clash between Americans and their new Chinese bosses. The latter are accustomed to the absolute submission of their staff, who accept exhausting schedules and practice strange company cult rituals.
In the US, they soon realize, things don't work that way. They look at local personnel as slackers with little commitment to the company, and strive to repress unionism (this is not only done by Chinese executives, but also by Bezos or Musk). Cao himself is caught on camera in the film, ranting about his employees. The documentary, Michele Obama said, is not "editorializing": it just portrays what happens. Don't expect to take away a moral lesson.
Translated by urgent.news. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
