Look up WFOE, wholly owned foreign enterprises. There were indeed a lot of restrictions and pressure towards Joint Ventures, but conditions have relaxed a lot over the years and continues to, i.e. financial services last year. Motorola, Lucent, GM had WFOE arrangements (certain plants) in the mid 90s. Also keep in mind JVs provide foreign companies local expertise and massive subsidies, free land among other schemes. Foreign companies knew exactly what they were getting themselves into since the mid 90s, there are certain strategic sectors where JVs is expected, but companies also pick JV because frequently it was a good deal. You have to keep in mind a lot of the narrative around Chinese business is shaped by huge companies with loud lobbying voices in strategically important industries. For example the last US Shanghai Chamber of Commerce surveys concludes something like 95%+ of US companies in China doesn't care about IP... because most companies business models aren't based around IP. So you won't hear their complaints because mostly, foreign companies in China operate fine, particularly those that serve the Chinese market.