China bars O.C. businessman from returning home, citing contract dispute

Los Angeles Times ^ | Jan. 9, 2011 | Stuart Pfeifer

[La Enchiladita]

A businessman from Orange County said Chinese government officials have prohibited him from leaving China for the last four days, saying he must resolve a contract dispute with a Chinese supplier before they’ll let him return to the United States.

Brian Horowitz of Mission Viejo said he was detained at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport on Thursday and told that he couldn’t board an American Airlines flight to Chicago because of a lawsuit he says he knew nothing about.

Horowitz said he called a judge at the direction of Chinese immigration officials and was told he would need to settle the case, filed by an exporting company in the city of Fuzhou, before he would be allowed to fly home.

[La Enchiladita]

Horowitz’s case is a cautionary tale for Americans doing business in China, where laws and customs differ markedly from those of the United States. Under Chinese law, for example, foreigners with pending civil cases can be barred from leaving China until the matter is settled, experts in Chinese law said.

Burns me up, why we have anything to do with those POSs.

After doing business in China for nearly two decades, Horowitz said, he’s never going to return. Instead, he said, he’ll deal with manufacturers in Taiwan and elsewhere.

“I don’t owe this money. But because they filed a lawsuit and I had no way to defend my rights, I can’t go home,” Horowitz said.

No way to defend your rights. That's right. Don't bother calling the DeptofState; Hillary's too busy blasting the "vast right wing conspiracy."

[Mr. Jazzy]

I am having a very hard time working up any sympathy for this guy. He KNEW what he was getting into a long, long time ago.

[Dallas59]

Bammy is too busy defending the rights of illegal immigrants you silly American!

[Brilliant]

Debtors’ prison.

[Rebelbase]

He could always travel to NE China and sneak across the border into North Korea. Oh, wait....never mind.

[dragnet2]

This AH want to do business in Communist China?

I hope they keep him.

[MeganC]

Wal Mart represents close to 25% of China’s GDP (that was according to the 60 Minutes story on Wal Mart).

Do you shop at Wal Mart? Then you do business with Communist China.

Myself, this year makes eight years since I last set foot in a Wal Mart. I’m also extremely careful about not buying things from China.

That’s because eight years ago on FR I got to see a page with gruesome photographs of some teenage girls being murdered by Chinese soldiers for writing about democracy. Every time I drive by a Wal Mart I think of those girls in their cute sweaters with their heads blown off.

I know it upsets some FReepers that I won’t shop at Wal Mart but I have drawn a line. I can’t have my money support a company that supports a country that is the enemy of my freedom and liberty and is the enemy of freedom and liberty everywhere.

[DarkWaters]

There is an old saying:

If you are going to play with fire you should expect to get burned.

Also sounds like the company suing him has some political clot as well especially if they were the first to violate the contract regarding not meeting clean air act standards even though they where required to. Another fine example of state capitalism. Sell a poor quality product, screw the investors, settle, and then shake them down using the communist system. You can't make this stuff up.

[familyop]

He should get along well in his choice of a communist country, and that should be his permanent home.

[Colorado Doug]

Expect to see more of this sort of thing happening.

[1rudeboy]

I bought a kitchen garbage can (made in U.S.A.), and some rawhide dog chews (made in Argentina) just yesterday.

[1rudeboy]

At Wal-mart, I mean.

[familyop]

I buy things from wherever at the lowest prices that I can find, as long as those things are very necessary or will make my family more self-sufficient soon. ...except for some items that need to be of exceptional durability (e.g., an American-made solar charge controller). In the near future, we won’t be buying anything at all for a decade or so. We need small government and might see that and the end of globalism after the national default.

[norton]

I had a small business owner friend who was invited by the PRC to visit and discuss a trade deal.

He went, ate the food, went to the opera, toured a bit, and met with the trade "partners".

Then he came home and adamantly refused further contact.

PS: Taiwan is another story, if the US allows them to live.

[little jeremiah]

I’m on the same page, familyop. We need to tighten up and get ready for the ride, the roller coaster’s nearing the final downhill ride, IMO.

[little jeremiah]

Buying Chinese made goods helps to destroy the world. I very, very occasionally have to buy something made in China, but if I have any other alternative (made elsewhere, make it myself, get it used, make something else work, or do without) I will take the other alternative.

[MeganC]

Lenin once famously pronounced that: “When we hang the last capitalist it will be with a rope that he sold us.”

With China and Wal Mart I’d like to say that when we finally hang ourselves we’ll buy the Chinese-made rope at Wal Mart.

[Cyber Liberty]

Sounds like your average traffic stop...in Mexico.

[MeganC]

Amen.

[vette6387]

Me too! I watched virtually all of the Silicon Valley companies “outsource” their high-tech procurement needs to China. Now all their “buyers” are just “minders” trying to get their Chinese “suppliers” to perform. Some companies spend more on plane fare sending people to China to try and get them to perform than they save on cost of goods. These so-called “leaders” have no loyalty to their country or to their US employees. Their only “loyalty” is to their wallets. Their “leader” is Bernie Schwartz of Loral who sold the Chinese missile guidance technology and gave Slick Willie some of his ill-gotten gain.