Fast Company has a long and fascinating piece about how Starbucks has "cozied up" to China's Communist Party in its quest to build out an enormous store fleet and infrastructure there; "It's estimated that a new Starbucks café opens in China every nine hours. There are more Starbucks stores in Shanghai than in any other city in the world." And Howard Schultz, the current CEO, has said that "China will overtake America as Starbucks's biggest market by 2025." The question is whether Starbucks, which always has positioned itself as an ethical beacon, is compromising its values as it looks to achieve growth." "The Seattle-based coffee giant has been working quietly toward this goal for almost 30 years," Fast Company writes. "It's taken the usual steps necessary to operate successfully in China as a foreign enterprise, such as building rapport with Communist Party officials, setting up joint partnerships, and expanding slowly yet strategically.