Speaking Freely is an Asia
Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click here if you are interested in
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The enormous economic growth
of the Middle Kingdom has gained attention for many
decades. Its vast geographic territory, manpower,
resources, and its incredible business opportunities
have the miraculous ability to seduce the market dreams
of the West and the countries of the Global East.
The isolation policies and xenophobia of the
Chinese have kept foreigners away from the mainland for
centuries. But in many ways that helped China to focus
on its domestic development without any intervention
from any external power. It also seems that China had
sufficient domestic resources in earlier times, and
hardly required imports from rest of the world. This
logically justified China's closed-door policy for
centuries. And due to the unique character of China's
trade relations, its foreign counterparts were found
running into high trade deficits.
The continuous
knocking at the door of the Chinese kingdom by the
Western world has rarely given way for them to enter the
Chinese market, as they had expected. No other country
on the Asian continent has become as importance in terms
of market opportunities or is as promising as China.
Thus, this article will focus on some specific factors
that make China the world's most important developing
country in this century.
The orbit The
Chinese orbit is a vast imaginative space of China's
interaction with the outside world. With its elusive
quest to gain an understanding of China and to access
its untapped opportunities, the outside world revolves
around the Chinese orbit. This orbit mainly includes the
magnetic points such as the "Chinese market", its
"economic growth" and "the social, political and
cultural systems". All the above-mentioned factors have
undeniable roles in bringing the outside world closer to
China.
Despite many criticisms of China on
different issues, such as its projection of economic
growth, human rights issues, etc, a growing affinity for
China is evident in the international community. In the
past, missionaries, commercial lobbies and governmental
agencies waited to push themselves into the Chinese
mainland, but could do so only with great difficulty.
Time changed as China started opening up slowly to the
outside world. The opening up was approached with great
caution from the Chinese side. And in effect, it allowed
China to learn more about the outside world than what
others could learn about China.
China's
market: A galaxy of opportunities With a
population exceeding 1.2 billion, and a fast-growing
economy, China promises to be the largest possible
market for commercial activities in the world. The story
of the Western world's commercial fascination with China
dates back 2,000 years and began with a product that
still symbolizes the relationship - silk [1]. The
romance of the Chinese market and its products has been
growing through centuries. Trade commodities like silk
and tea, and the desired know-how for paper-making were
fascinating factors to the outside world.
The
Chinese have taken a courageous step toward open
markets, recognizing that no nation can isolate itself
in today's global marketplace if its economy is to grow
and its people are to prosper [2]. China today offers
enormous market opportunities. It can assure sufficient
returns to any investor, and so is a market that neither
investors or international brands can ignore. The
Chinese market is irresistible to many multinational
giants in the fields of automobiles, software and
information technology (IT), among others. China's entry
into the World Trade Organization (WTO) also has
contributed to the development of its vast market.
China's entry was a relief to many multinational
companies, waiting for new markets in the Asian region
after the Asian economic crisis in 1997-97.
Great leap in economic growth China's
economic growth reached 9.1 percent, and its external
trade reached US$851 billion (7 trillion yuan) in 2003,
according to official Chinese sources. Though there was
concern about China's economic development due to the
impact of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), the
slowdown in economic growth did not persist throughout
2003. Moreover, China's foreign exchange reserves
reached $415.7 billion by the end of January 2004, the
world's second largest after Japan [3]. Despite
criticisms of this economic growth as dodgy and
unsustainable, the Chinese economy has been gaining
attention among other countries. It is true that
official information on many facts is not available to
the outside world and there were fluctuations in
economic growth in the past. However, these are purely
due to the domestic political conditions from time to
time.
The worst times for the Chinese economy
came during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural
Revolution. But in the post-1980s, the situation
changed, and the modernization processes had great
influence on national development. Even during the
slowdown in other Asian economies, China was witnessing
immense progress in its economic growth. When East Asia
was attacked by a financial crisis in 1997 and 1998,
China introduced a policy of not depreciating its
currency, and it really delivered the goods, making
remarkable contributions to the East Asian economies',
riding over the crisis and restoring stability and
growth [4].
China's economy is greatly
influenced by the ongoing globalization trend.
Globalization has opened up investment opportunities in
China, and in addition, the Chinese government's
effective policies on taxation, plus its long-term
investment in infrastructure construction also have
contributed to a more pleasant investment climate [5].
All these factors collectively contributed to the
importance of China's economy in the world.
Society, culture and political
systems The Chinese society has its roots deep in
Confucianism, a realistic moral philosophy. Though it
was never practiced as a religion, it played a major
role in shaping China's society, its political system
and molding Chinese thinking. China has a very rich
cultural history that dates back centuries. The
development of literature, architecture, painting,
ceramics and Chinese medicine, etc in China has gained
notable importance in the world. These factors have
influenced the West's fascination with China and drawn
all those Western countries sail to its shores.
The political system in modern China is another
important factor, which has always made China watchers
enthusiastic. Communism in China was different from the
communist experience in Russia. What the world could see
in China was the "Sinification" of a communist ideology.
The survival of communism in post-liberation
China was always suspected by Western Sinologists, but
Chinese leaders were ambitious and confident that they
could make the country into a strong economic power in
the world. Though the failure of some policies during
the late 1950s and early 1960s was viewed critically by
Western Sinologists, China never gave up its efforts to
push itself to the world's forefront. By the end of the
Cold War, China had gained attention as a growing Asian
power and was the only country able to fill the power
vacuum created by the collapse of Soviet Union.
Since the Tiananmen massacre of peaceful
pro-democracy civilians, China has become more assertive
in protecting its national interests in a pragmatic way.
Developing relations with the West or former ideological
enemies is no longer taboo for China. Moreover, it has
been given due importance to improve its trade
relations.
Conclusion Sinologists have
different opinions on whether China is a threat,
competitor or opportunity to other countries, especially
to its Asian neighbors. What is more important to the
Asian neighbors is to understand that the growth of
China as an economic power will always be better than a
China suffering from economic or political problems.
While projecting China as a threat to its Asian
neighbors by the West, it is evident that they have
already fallen into the Chinese orbit, looking for
access to the world's most promising market. The only
country that is always worried about the truth of
multi-polarity is the United States. And if China is
blamed by the US for hegemonizing the Asian continent,
it only reflects US interests in the continent.
In addition to the Western powers, Russia also
maintains strong relations with China. For Russia, China
is a promising customer for its arms industry,and its
bilateral trade is greater with China than with the US.
China is an economic giant and a dependable trading
partner to other Asian countries, and it stands to make
the demands of the developing countries more vocal in
the international arena after being dubbed "the most
important developing country" in the Asian region.
China's cooperation is undeniable and essential in
bringing about pragmatic solutions to issues like energy
security, economic development, the fight against
terrorism, etc, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.
China's economic growth and market avenues have
opened up avenues for many more trading giants showing
their interest in China. Countries that had refused to
kowtow before the Chinese emperors centuries back have
kowtowed before modern China a hundred times to get
entry to its market - and have thereby fallen into the
Chinese orbit.
[1] Joe Studwell. The China
Dream. Profile Books, London 2004. Page 3.
[2] Commentary by Roger C Beach, "Golden
opportunity to open trade with China", on the Unocal
website.
[3] Information at www.tdctrade.com, as
provided by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council.
[4] "How to interpret China's Fast Economic
Growth", by Justin Yifu Lin. Published at
http://en.ce.cn/insights/t20031209_241720.shtml.
[5] Xinhua News Agency. March 20, 2004.
Speaking Freely is an Asia
Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click hereif you are
interested in contributing.
Nandakumar J is a
PhD Scholar, Department of Chinese and Japanese Studies,
University of Delhi, New Delhi, India. He can be reached
at: nanduj123@rediffmail.com.
