Where does the buck stop?

The recent spat, between, the governments of Japan and China, was very interesting on a number of counts.

The story.......

A Chinese fishing boat skipper, by design or otherwise, strayed into Japanese territorial waters off a disputed island, called Senkaku Islands, in the East China Sea, North East of Taiwan. Worse the boat collided with a Japanese Coast Guard ship and the Chinese skipper was arrested and promptly shipped off to Japan for trial.

From China, the reaction was fast and furious. The Japanese ambassador, was summoned over six times, once at 2 AM, and a demand was made for the immediate release of the fishing boat skipper.All this for a fishing boat skipper, nosing around a group of uninhabited islands.

Contrast this with our reaction to the Common Wealth Games imbroglio. Yesterday, the Prime Minister of India, is said to have pulled up the Minister of Sports. The question is where does the buck stop? Who is accountable for the mess? Is being pulled up a good enough penalt

Latest reports indicate that the Japanese have released the boat and its skipper, only to have the Chinese up the ante and demand a state apology from the Japs. Nobody is in any doubt, where the buck stops here!

Chinese Checkers!

A couple of days ago, a student of mine asked me, as to what I considered, the most important aspects of International HRM. After mulling over the question, I said, training of expatriates and setting up policies to deal with crises that your employees faces when working abroad, would top my list.

I think I was bang on, with the Rio Tinto brouhaha in China. Rio Tinto, a London based metals major, follows a Geo Centric approach to staffing, and in doing so, placed Stern Hu, an Australian, as its rep in China.The issue is further confused because Hu was Chinese prior to turning Australian!

Hu, Rio Tinto's executive in charge of iron ore negotiations in China before his arrest last July, was sentenced in a Shanghai court yesterday to a total 10 years in prison on charges of corruption & bribery. Three Chinese colleagues were imprisoned for between seven and 14 years.

The case was closely watched by foreign companies operating in China. The rulings suggest Chinese authorities are taking a sterner stance toward foreign companies caught violating the country's often selectively enforced corruption code.

It is clear that the Chinese are playing hardball here, obviously miffed by the reluctance that the western world shows in signing extradition treaties with China. The lack of a treaty precludes China from getting its citizens back home to face trial, for offences committed against China.

The Australian's are obviously not pleased. Australia's leader Kevin Rudd said today that secrecy surrounding China's trial of four Rio Tinto workers for commercial espionage leaves room for doubt about the convictions.

Canberra says the jail sentence handed to Australian citizen Stern Hu on bribery charges was harsh, and has criticized the decision to keep media and diplomats out of the court while it considered the other charges of stealing commercial secrets.

I have that that bad feeling that seems to suggest that, this international fracas, is fast spiralling out of control.Rio Tinto said if would fire Hu and his colleagues.

"I am determined that the unacceptable conduct of these four employees will not prevent Rio Tinto from continuing to build its important relationship with China," CEO Tom Albanese said in a statement. The company is increasingly dependent on its business with China.

However corporations would be disappointed at the secrecy of the commercial secrets elements of the trial and chronic corruption that plagues industrial China.China continues to be opaque in many areas.Much of the foreign interest in the case stems from the commercial secrets portion of the charges, because government information controls add a layer of uncertainty and risk to operating in China.

Some of the information the Rio execs are thought to be accused of obtaining illegally -- including detailed mine production and operation rates -- is considered vital market intelligence in China, where official statistics are unreliable.This episode has also placed China, as a business destination,under the scanner, following closely on the heels of Google exiting China, in the recent past, over a spat with the Govt. of China & intense pressure on its business practice, back in the USA.

This is IHRM at its best!It has got all elements of a wonderful drama- International Politics, Business wheeling & dealing, industrial espionage and of course the human touch. A wonderful case study, except that poor Hu, would definitely not be downing 'Fosters' beer & watching Kangaroos, skip across the great Aussie outback, for a while, while politicians across the world indulge themselves in a war of words!

International Shame!

While India readies itself for yet another IPL, it’s a year to this day since Capt Aroza, from Mangalore, found himself in jail in the tiny island nation of Taiwan. His crime! Involuntary manslaughter, since the ship that he was commanding did not go to the rescue of a sinking fishing skiff off the Taiwanese coast. The greater tragedy is that the Captain was not on the bridge at the time of the incident.

From an international standpoint, the case gets a little confused, because though he is an Indian, the ship that Aroza commanded was a Panamanian vessel and so not Indian sovereign territory. Also, since the case, is being tried in Taiwan, Aruzo’s advocate is a Chinese gent, with what is said to be limited English speaking skills.

From a human standpoint, the Captain’s family (his wife) runs from pillar to post, to get redress for her husband. Her appeal for support has fallen on deaf government ears. A government which has forgotten that, these same people, contributed vast resources to this country’s foreign exchange reserves till the economy opened up in 1991.Their three young daughters would soon forget, how their father looks, if the Captain is ensconced in jail for greater time.

The captain was held responsible, because it was under his command that the accident occurred. How many of our CEO’s would go to jail, for accidents might occur in their organizations or for the carelessness of their subordinates.

The following case of negligence is rather enlightening……..
D a ship’s captain followed an unsafe course and relied too heavily on his engines even though he knew the fuel was contaminated. The ship foundered off the Cornish coast and three crew members were drowned.

Held; It is up to the jury to decide whether or not negligence is gross negligence even though negligently endangering a ship is a statutory offence. The question for the jury is whether it amounts to the crime of manslaughter.

Guilty

On how many occasions do you recollect our bureaucrats going to jail for negligence? If you know of an incidence please do let me know!

The maze of International Laws!

Two instances with interntional ramification's but close to home, are those of the Google mess behind the dragon's veil in China & that of Andy Pag in Rajasthan. I'm quite certain much of the folk would have heard of Google but the same would not hold true with Andy Pag.I've got a rather smug smile on my face, as I was talking the Google story, in my International HR class, a couple of months ago as a potential point of conflict between the USA & China.

Andy is a Brit who also holds an Italian passport and believes in saving the world from ecological apocalypse. He drives a twenty year old school bus powered on bio fuels across the world & spreads his message. Apparently he drove a bus to 'Timbuktu' in Africa, powered by chocolate & he also organised the Grease to Greece Rally in 2008, where teams travel across Europe in vehicles powered by cooking oil. Amazing !

Andy, presently in India, is frankly in a mess, where the danger is very clear and present and far away from the ecological doomsday that he is striving to save the world from. As of now he is in police custody in Rajasthan,after being arrested in Ajmer, for being in possession of a satellite phone that should have been declared to the cops, on his entering India. From where did he enter India? Pakistan! Now you have all the ingredients of a explosive mixture. Apparently, the phone is the type that was used by terrorists, in the Mumbia Taj strike,a year ago.The charge is serious enough- Anti terror!

The British media is up in arms & his family has taken up his case.I Can understand their plight- in all likely hood Andy is innocent & most folk from the first world have an unmitigated horror about Indian jails. You talk about jails in India & they visibly blanch and go wobbly around the knees. The British government, quiet as of now, is going to raise the pitch, sooner than later.Andy claims that he was not aware, of the regulation and is innocent. Maybe so, but ignorance is not a good defense, to prove innocence.You just cannot step into another country and say, I do not know your regulations. It is good practice to make yourself aware & that is what makes International Business, so complicated.

There was a case, in China, a few years ago, when the Captain, of a ship, was arrested. His crime- he stayed away from his ship, the night over. An accepted practice the world over, but not in China.

I hope Andy Pag, can prove his innocence and continue on his journey, to save the world, a wiser man from now.

We all learn don't we......................................that's why they say experience is the greatest teacher!