GlaxoSmithKline could be considering quitting China, says BBC editor

For most multinational companies, it is a no-brainer that they have to be big in China, if their global ambitions are to be taken seriously, said Robert Peston, business editor of UK public broadcast the BBC this morning on the Today program (September 6).

However, he suggested, at UK drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK), which is embroiled in bribery allegations (The Pharma Letters passim), executives are beginning to wonder whether the costs of being in the world's second biggest economy may soon outweigh the long-term growth prospects.

Mr Preston says he has learned that there are two sources of concern for GSK, and they both stem from the investigation by Chinese police into how travel agencies were allegedly used to channel up to £320 million ($495 million) of bribes to doctors and officials.