“It was then and it remains to a greater extent today that China is governed by men and not by laws” – one of the many no-holds-barred statement by Hank Paulson in his memoir of China. Hank Paulson had an unprecedented access to the top leadership of Communist Party of China (CPC); an access that caused an envy even among the Government Officials in China. The book divided into 3 parts – 1/3 on his experiences from putting a foot of his firm in China to his firm getting synonymous in any deal related to China; 1/3 on his experiences as a Treasury Secretary and the Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED); 1/3 on general commentary which revolves around the Political Leadership and the Way Forward for China.
As the head of Goldman Sachs and then as the Treasury Secretary during the Bush administration, Hank Paulson seamlessly switches track from “doing specific deals “to “Policy specifics” in the course of the book. The book is peppered with instances related to the culture and mannerism of the Chinese officials. Paulson is credited to opening the doors of China to private enterprises and he takes us through the deals of IPO’s and strategic investments his firm had conducted during his tenure. He manages to give a reader a top-level view on how China has pivoted from a trade-outsider to a backbone of world economy. The fight for economic reforms, bank loans & corruption cleansing are well documented. I got a sense of Déjà vu while reading about bank loans gone rotten; a fight that the incumbent RBI Governor is undertaking for Indian Banks.
A nice side-track is Paulson’s involvement in developing a Management course in Tsinghua university. Upon the request of then Premier – Zhu Rongji, Paulson used the expertise of deans in HBS and INSEAD, and host of leaders in Global Enterprises to make an executive course . In typical Pauslon style, he points to the Cultural Revolution during Mao’s regime that prevented a generation of men & women who lost their education during university shutdown.
Paulson takes the sensitive issues head on - freedom of press, censoring of internet, censoring of dissent, pollution & environmental concerns. The book gives you a balanced view point of China but after finishing the book , I felt underwhelmed . The top view approach remains a top-view. The author does not really dissect the issues to deep-down level. If the author had written the views of his junior colleagues who would have dealt with the Chinese Officials at a different level, the actual workings of China would have been in display.
As the head of Goldman Sachs and then as the Treasury Secretary during the Bush administration, Hank Paulson seamlessly switches track from “doing specific deals “to “Policy specifics” in the course of the book. The book is peppered with instances related to the culture and mannerism of the Chinese officials. Paulson is credited to opening the doors of China to private enterprises and he takes us through the deals of IPO’s and strategic investments his firm had conducted during his tenure. He manages to give a reader a top-level view on how China has pivoted from a trade-outsider to a backbone of world economy. The fight for economic reforms, bank loans & corruption cleansing are well documented. I got a sense of Déjà vu while reading about bank loans gone rotten; a fight that the incumbent RBI Governor is undertaking for Indian Banks.
A nice side-track is Paulson’s involvement in developing a Management course in Tsinghua university. Upon the request of then Premier – Zhu Rongji, Paulson used the expertise of deans in HBS and INSEAD, and host of leaders in Global Enterprises to make an executive course . In typical Pauslon style, he points to the Cultural Revolution during Mao’s regime that prevented a generation of men & women who lost their education during university shutdown.
Paulson takes the sensitive issues head on - freedom of press, censoring of internet, censoring of dissent, pollution & environmental concerns. The book gives you a balanced view point of China but after finishing the book , I felt underwhelmed . The top view approach remains a top-view. The author does not really dissect the issues to deep-down level. If the author had written the views of his junior colleagues who would have dealt with the Chinese Officials at a different level, the actual workings of China would have been in display.
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