Foreign Owned Business

The Chinese have landed here to a warm welcome. But just to be on the safe side, Dave McMahen decided not to fly the Chinese flag outside the motor scooter factory. After surviving for decades on the fortunes of poultry, Russellville, population 21,000, is now the unlikely home of what appears to be mainland China's first U.S. factory built from the ground up.

The Chinese have landed here to a warm welcome. But just to be on the safe side, Dave McMahen decided not to fly the Chinese flag outside the motor scooter factory. After surviving for decades on the fortunes of poultry, Russellville, population 21,000, is now the unlikely home of what appears to be mainland China's first U.S. factory built from the ground up.

One French guest at President Jacques Chirac's Bastille Day garden party this month was plainly aghast. "Coke at the Elysee Palace?" he said, eyeing the bottles of bubbly dark liquid on the buffet table. "If it were up to me, I'd throw them out until they serve French wine at the White House." No American company carries heavier cultural baggage abroad than Coca-Cola Co., proprietor of the world's best-known brand.

One French guest at President Jacques Chirac's Bastille Day garden party this month was plainly aghast. "Coke at the Elysee Palace?" he said, eyeing the bottles of bubbly dark liquid on the buffet table. "If it were up to me, I'd throw them out until they serve French wine at the White House." No American company carries heavier cultural baggage abroad than Coca-Cola Co., proprietor of the world's best-known brand.

Prime Minister Valentin S. Pavlov introduced radical legislation Wednesday that would let foreign investors operate and own businesses in the Soviet Union as part of the nation's sweeping economic reforms. Only with massive injections of foreign capital--and the advanced technology and business know-how that such investment would bring--can the Soviet Union hope to modernize its industry and thus stem its economic collapse, Pavlov told the Supreme Soviet, the national legislature.

The White House, abandoning a policy pursued by the Ronald Reagan and George Bush administrations, has decided to side with California officials in their court fight to keep as much as $4 billion in taxes collected from foreign-owned businesses operating in the state. The Administration's decision came after a high-level review that ended in an Oval Office meeting Tuesday, and it reflects Clinton's intense political interest in California and the state's shaky economy, officials said.

The headline "Coalition Will Lobby Washington to End Embargo Against Cuba" (June 9) was eye-catching. The "sticking point," the story says, is Castro's rule. Our concerted efforts are finally beginning to take effect. Unable to trade, Cuba is cash-poor. If we work things right, we will return Cuba to its pre-Castro days: U.S.-owned sugar fields and other foreign-owned big business, maybe even casinos, the playground of the rich; side streets lined with brothels; Cubans to serve as "labor" and returning them to living in hovels and among the hungry, homeless and illiterate.

A convicted member of a Venezuelan banking family testified Thursday that he and his aunt contributed $50,000 to the Democratic Party in 1992 and were reimbursed by his grandfather's foreign-owned business. Jorge Castro Barredo, serving a bank fraud sentence in a New York state prison, said the contributions were arranged by the family's Miami lawyer, who told Castro Barredo that he would get the money back.

Sounding like a seasoned capitalist, Moscow Mayor Gavriil Popov was in Orange County on Thursday to urge Americans to invest in Russia, where despite some risks, he said, "it's possible . . . to do business." "Any businessman is afraid . . . when he goes into a new country," said Gavriil, who met with reporters before speaking to about 400 people at a dinner sponsored by the Industrial League of Orange County. "But business is connected with risk, and only risks can give good profit."

It is fascinating that often the same people who want to save American jobs by restricting imports into the United States and blocking U.S. overseas investment also vociferously object to foreign individuals and companies investing in U.S. businesses. All sorts of pejorative terms are used to describe foreign investment: "putting America on the trading block" or "America is for sale."

The White House, abandoning a policy pursued by the Ronald Reagan and George Bush administrations, has decided to side with California officials in their court fight to keep as much as $4 billion in taxes collected from foreign-owned businesses operating in the state. The Administration's decision came after a high-level review that ended in an Oval Office meeting Tuesday, and it reflects Clinton's intense political interest in California and the state's shaky economy, officials said.

Prime Minister Valentin S. Pavlov introduced radical legislation Wednesday that would let foreign investors operate and own businesses in the Soviet Union as part of the nation's sweeping economic reforms. Only with massive injections of foreign capital--and the advanced technology and business know-how that such investment would bring--can the Soviet Union hope to modernize its industry and thus stem its economic collapse, Pavlov told the Supreme Soviet, the national legislature.

Bush administration officials scrambled Thursday to disavow and then undo proposed air travel restrictions for the Sept. 11 anniversary and, with commemorative events less than two weeks away, said broader security plans have not been finalized.