Jacob Wallenberg's family controls a big chunk of the Swedish economy and is one of the oldest foreign investors in post-cultural revolution China. So when he intimates that doing business there is not substantially harder than it ever was, it may be time to take the complaints of the US and European Union chambers of commerce in Beijing with a pinch of salt.
Mr Wallenberg, chairman of Investor, the Wallenberg family holding company, told the Financial Times at the Shanghai World Expo it was natural that China's self-esteem (some would say arrogance) had been boosted by its emergence almost unscathed from the global financial crisis and by its growing political influence worldwide.
That means China has become a tough competitor for the west – which has not been used to fighting for its profits in the middle kingdom.
