It probably is illegal but the countries have weak rule of law (if rule of law is even a thing in those countries at all). Note that there are differences between fees and bribery, if something can be legally presented as a fee, it is no longer considered a bribe (important if you are an American or American company).
This is why I brought up the example of pre-tipping. It is clearly not a fee but it is generally accepted. If you hand the Valet a $20 and say please park it close, is it a tip, fee, or bribe?
How about at a bar, can you tell the bar tender "I have an extra $5 if you make it a heavy pour"?
How about attending the Salesforce conference but it's mostly because you want to visit SF and see Metallica/Chainsmokers?
We have bribes in the US, we just don't think of them as bribes.
Sure it is, tipping a bartender for a heavy pour can be interpreted as colluding with the bartender to steal alcohol from the bar owner. Both illegal and dishonest.
Asking your company to send you to Salesforce just to see Metallica/Chainsmokers is clearly dishonest, the expectation is that your primary reason for going is to network and learn + represent your company.
At least when we did anti corruption training for Microsoft China, the emphasis was on government employees, but that could also apply to grad students with stipends and anyone working for an SOE. So you can tip the doorman as long as they aren't working for the state, but you can't buy a grad student lunch (without pre-clearance anyways).
