Ever since some English textile magnates dreamt of adding an inch to every Chinese shirttail in the 19th century, foreign companies have sought to supply the world’s most populous market with a product that the people of China want and local industry cannot provide.
Alejandro Agag, chief executive of the Formula E electric car championship, may have just such a product. And better yet in a country where overseas businesses prosper when they align their interests with the powers that be, it may also be a product that can help a senior Chinese Communist party official keep his job.
Last year Beijing’s mayor rashly promised to resign — or “offer up my own head” as he put it — if the Chinese capital’s notorious air pollution was not cleaned up by 2017.