You are a CEO of Canadian-Chinese joint venture which operates in China. Your Chinese partner is People's Liberation Army (PLA). The PLA has built sprawling network of businesses that do everything from raise pigs to run airlines and hospitals, mine coal, man- age hotels, and operate paging and cellular networks. As business conglomerate, PLA does business with international investors. Some argue that large portion of foreign in- vestment going to China is with companies and cartels controlled by Chinese military. Others argue that it is easy to read too much into PLA's foray into business. They point out that there is little centralized coordination among thousands of businesses with military affiliations. Some companies are run by retired officers, others by civilians.
As CEO of joint organization, do you have any ethical concerns about partnering with PLA? If so, what are they? Assume a clash between pro-democracy demonstrators and PLA turns bloody. How would this turn of events influence business relations with your PLA partner? Are ethical issues of partnering with Chinese military any different from those that arise from exporting to China? Why or why not?