Imagine you're a product engineer for a U.S. device brand based in China. You've had to submit your passport for annual visa renewal.
Without it, you can't travel. And with heightened concerns over security and a crackdown on VPNs (which enable users to bypass Chinese censorship of the internet) your company has decreed that all sensitive product discussions be done in-person back at HQ. But that visa renewal is taking a long time and you're stuck in Shanghai, with your product cycle being extended by the day.
In Shenzhen, where your devices are assembled, the factory has just been raided for the third time that month. Inspectors are looking for breaches of occupational health and safety. You've worked hard to keep things up to code, though the rules seems to shift constantly. Minor rust on a pipe at the back of the site was all the authorities needed to shut you down pending a fix. Your site manager can't even find any mention of rust in the regulations, and that pipe is in no worse condition than the previous two scheduled inspections. Now it's a problem and production is halted.
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