The sales director for a supplier to Beijing Foton Daimler Automotive is close to despair. She has been selling parts for 20 years but now, she said, more people than ever needed to be bribed to guarantee orders.
“In the past, we would give a purchasing manager a red envelope. But now even assembly line workers will call me threatening that if we don’t pay up they will find some problem with our product,” she said, asking to remain anonymous for fear of the potential consequences. “The rot has reached the roots.”
Her exasperation is shared by many in China, a country gripped by a sense that corruption has started to shake the foundations of development.