What does this mean?? (difficult question)

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wholegrain

#552172 Thu, 07 Aug 08 04:28 PM

"Also the Chinese State dealt with foreign direct investments (FDIs) to maximize the knowledge and transfer of technology to its State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) for the betterment of its domestic labor. On the other hand China was a market that could not be ignored due to its opportunities and growth potential."

http://www.asiacase.com/case/southAsia/essecAs-airbus.html

Also the Chinese State dealt with foreign direct investments (FDIs) to maximize the knowledge for the betterment of its domestic labor and transfer of technology to its State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) for the betterment of its domestic labor. On the other hand China was a market that could not be ignored due to its opportunities and growth potential.

or

Also the Chinese State dealt with foreign direct investments (FDIs) to maximize the knowledge to go to its State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and transfer of technology to its State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) for the betterment of its domestic labor. On the other hand China was a market that could not be ignored due to its opportunities and growth potential.

or

something else?

What does it mean exactly?

wholegrain

Joined on Thu, Jun 19 2008

Full Member (299)

Mr Wordy

#552244 Thu, 07 Aug 08 08:08 PM

The sentence appears faulty to me. Without "knowledge and" it would be OK. The words "knowledge and" convey a sense that knowledge, perhaps specifically knowledge of technology, perhaps specifically residing in its SOEs, is being maximised for the betterment of China's domestic labour force, but syntactically they do not actually fit.

Mr Wordy

Joined on Tue, May 27 2008

Regular Member (960)

Native British English speaker

RayH

#552247 Thu, 07 Aug 08 08:15 PM

How about this?

...direct investments (FDIs) to maximize the transfer of knowledge and technology to its State Owned Enterprises...

RayH

Joined on Sat, Mar 22 2008

CA, USA

Regular Member (709)

Native speaker of U. S. English. Not a grammar expert.

wholegrain

#552261 Thu, 07 Aug 08 08:40 PM

RayH
How about this?

...direct investments (FDIs) to maximize the transfer of knowledge and technology to its State Owned Enterprises...

I don't know, I didn't write this... But I think they meant that the Chinese force foreign firms to train local workers (KNOWLEDGE) and force them to make parts of what they sell to China locally and force them to give some of their technology in exchange of the access of their markets.

wholegrain