Period оf Assessment

3. Once а framework for а negotiating relationship has been established, the Chinese will go through an often lengthy period of assessing their counterpart's objectives and positions. They are highly effective in drawing out an interlocutor. Negotiating sessions in Beijing predictably begin with the Chinese official saying, "Our custom is that our guest always speaks first." They will press for full revelation of the foreigner's position before exposing their own. Efforts tо draw them out early in а negotiation will produce very general or banal statements. They will not make any substantive statements until they believe they know their interlocutor's position fully.

All conversations with lower level officials are reported "upward" tо their superiors and are analyzed in detail by senior leaders. Hence, positions do not have tо be repeated through а series of meetings. In

this way the Chinese gain the initiative in assessing the views of a foreign negotiator and have time to prepare responses their. Thus they protect their senior leaders against ill-informed or confrontational encounters with lower-level foreign officials.

1. Why and what for will the Chinese go through the lengthy period of assessment?

2. What can you say about the conversations of the Chinese negotiators with different level officials of the other side?

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