[naringas]

I was thinking about a comment I read here, that claimed that in China companies have to hire party members because is the politically correct thing to do.

And that got me thinking how in "the west" companies have to hire lawyers (and accountants) for legal compliance reasons.

I see a parallel there.

[xyzelement]

I am guessing you are seeing the parallel because both sentences have the words "have to hire" in them?

Companies need to hire lawyers because we live in a society that places a high value on playing by the rules and regulations that come down (idealistically) from an elected body.

So if I am a company that "has to" hire lawyers and accountants, I only "have to" do so because there are rules in my country about how I (for example) represent my financial situation to unsophisticated investors so they don't lose their shirts.

You can see how that's a different form of "have to" from hiring someone's uncle so your business doesn't get closed by the corrupt government?

[naringas]

I was assuming that there would be law in China that clearly stated this as a legal requirement?

Also, I have this perspective in which, given the case that this is a corrupt practice, it ends up as a form of taxation (corrupt taxation, but same thing from an certain business perspective).