Jacques Dirickx finally got official permission to build his first factory in China last year, months after first applying. But the planning authorities were too late for the chairman of the small French wire mesh group that bears his name.

Four weeks earlier, Mr Dirickx had cut the ribbon on his new factory outside Beijing – completed in just six months – with the unofficial blessing of local government. By the time the permit arrived, the site was already producing tonnes of the fencing Dirickx sells to motorway developers and airports around the world.