Associate Professor Vivienne Bath comments on the Stern Hu trial in a studio interview with Eleanor Hall on ABC Radio Current Affairs Program, The World Today.

View the transcript - China's legal system under the microscope - The World Today

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Further related coverage:

The Chinese legal system and the Stern Hu case - East Asia Forum - 28th March 2010

Herald Sun, Saturday, 27th March 2010

"Obviously companies have to be very careful in China," says China business expert Vivienne Bath.
"You can't assume that everybody has the same commercial and business objectives that you have because there are all sorts of different players out there, particularly in government, who may have their own agendas."
In China, the relationship between business and politics is "extremely close".
"It's a political regime, but it's not necessarily as obvious to an outside observer because it's not a democratic society. So a lot of the manoeuvring goes on behind the scenes."
The Hu case will make businesses "perhaps a bit more careful" in the way they operate and more wary about seeking out business information and secrets, particularly since it is
often not clear what is considered a secret.

Courier Mail, Saturday, 27th March 2010

Vivienne Bath, a director of the Centre for Asian and Pacific Law at the University of Sydney, says that in China the relationship between business and politics is "extremely close."

"It's a political regime, but it's not necessarily as obvious to an outisde observer because it's not a democratic society," the Associate Professor says.

"So a lot of manoeuvering goes on behind the scenes."

The Hu case will make businesses "perhaps a bit more careful" in the way they operate and more wary about seeking business information and secrets, particularly since it is ofter not clear what is considered a secret.