Edward Tian

economy - Sitting on a train you cannot control

I talked to Edward Tian five years ago for Asiaweek when he left AsiaInfo and took the helm at China Netcom, then still a relative small newcomer under the state-owned teleco's. I was quite impressed, as where others who heard him talk. But life has not been easy directing a State Owned enterprise, he explains in Business Week now.

Once I joined, I found myself on a train I couldn't control, going faster and faster -- it became part of the Chinese company reforms. Life became very difficult with four state shareholders and regulations and competition from China Telecom. But I majored in ecology, and evolution taught me about the survival of the fittest. ... Jiang Minhang [son of former President Jiang Zemin] was a shareholder from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was a good director and had something in common with me -- we both studied in the U.S. But the first year was a disaster. I was a CEO, but they didn't give me a directorship because all directors must be ministerial level. ... I had to wine them and dine them and not let them color me as the foreign-educated Chinese guy with money. That was a handicap. I had to give up my U.S. green card to run this company. You have to become part of them, with a company car and driver. I have an Audi A6 2.4 liter class. Every senior official drives these. Directors drive 2.6 liter versions.