That's very bad news for Li and for Volvo, which was acquired 19 months ago by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. Li also is Geely's chairman.

Volvo will suffer for its foreign status for three reasons. (See related story in newsletter)

First, China's government spends billions of dollars each year on vehicle procurement. After acquiring Volvo, Li lobbied Beijing to include Volvo in the government's procurement program.

But with Volvo considered a foreign automaker, government agencies are less likely to procure their vehicles from the company.

Second, if Volvo is treated as a foreign company, government permission to produce vehicles in China will be delayed.

Li wants to sell a lot of Volvo cars in China to help revive the brand. But the cars must be built in China to avoid hefty import duties.

Volvo -- like any foreign automaker -- will have to form a joint venture with a Chinese company, create a separate brand for the partnership and produce electric vehicles in China.

Volvo intends to form a joint venture with Geely. But this takes time, and it will delay Volvo's plans to build vehicles in China.

Third, with Volvo considered a foreign company, the automaker's image will suffer.

Li sees Volvo as a luxury brand. Since Geely acquired Volvo, he has made every effort to keep the two brands apart for fear that Volvo's association with Geely, which makes inexpensive cars, will tarnish the Swedish brand.

But now his effort to protect the Volvo brand is doomed. To produce Volvo cars in China, he must comply with government regulations by setting up a joint venture between Volvo and Geely.

Vehicles to be built by the joint venture would carry a Geely Volvo badge, which is not something Li wants to see.

The Volvo acquisition established Geely as a global player. Proud of this achievement, Li must have lobbied the Chinese government hard to let the brand produce in China on its own.

But obviously, he failed. In a global age, insular Chinese government officials insist that an international brand owned by a domestic company is still foreign.

What an irony! But Li must grin and bear it.

All Li can do is hope for quick government approval of a Geely-Volvo joint venture so that he can produce Volvo cars in China as soon as possible.