Even the smallest companies devoted to jade carving or ivory sculpturing can be foreign-owned. Recourse to imported expertise is confined at present to equity rather than contractual arrangements. There is no dearth of opportunities, especially on a selective basis. Foreigners are allowed up to 50 percent equity in telecommunications, a vast field, and 30 percent in agriculture. Most new opportunities for foreign players in the Internet or in financial services are likely to come from Shanghai, commercially the country's most sophisticated city.
Most international companies opt for the coastal urban centers.
As a result, the government is trying to promote the development of the inland areas, but until the infrastructure and the distribution systems are improved there are likely to be few takers. The interior suffers from persistent bottlenecks. The infrastructure is being improved, but remains inadequate relative to the size of the country. The competitiveness mandated by WTO, and the removal of tariffs, is likely to kill off the most insolvent of the SOEs. This will create unemployment and serious social unrest by dismantling the subsidized welfare system.