The KGB Oracle Forums General Public Discussion (SPECIAL ACCESS) KGB Political Debate Central Honeymoon with China is finally over

Beijing appears to have begun a long-term campaign against foreign brands. This year’s 3.15 program also targeted Volkswagen. Last year’s show went after McDonald’s and Carrefour. In December, state media hit Yum Brands. And not all foreign companies are as fortunate as Apple, which looks like it escaped damage because an actor flubbed his lines. Some of the Chinese government’s attacks are having an effect: Yum’s same-store sales in China plunged 20% in the two months following the December reporting.

Moreover, Google has been the object of a multi-year effort to undermine its operations in China, and Beijing just signaled it was upping the stakes. This month, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a white paper claiming that China was too dependent on the company’s Android mobile operating system.