Despite months of heated finger-pointing, estranged joint-venture partners Groupe Danone of France and Hangzhou-based Wahaha Group have cleverly left a back door open for an out-of-court settlement amid a barrage of public allegations that would suggest an inevitable all-out confrontation.
Now, that leeway is being seized as both sides last week said they would return to peaceful talks and end all lawsuits and arbitration procedures, in an effort to meet the expectations of the mainland and French governments.
In fact, both companies have scheduled preconditions talks to resolve their disputes on brand and non-competition issues.
Economics professor Ning Xiangdong, of Tsinghua University, likened the Danone-Wahaha dispute to a marital spat between a young couple, in which each side only thinks of how the marriage will benefit their own parents' families, at the expense of the new family from their union.
'You can blame it on either their rush into marriage, or a failure to tolerate one another in the relationship,' Professor Ning said.
Danone established a joint venture with Wahaha in 1996 and took a controlling 51 per cent stake in the company.