Asian_Geographic_Issue_4_2017

(John Hannent) #1

right An employee
supervises production at a
chip factory in Dongguan,
indicative of the leap forward
in innovation and technology


Working in much the same way as Japan did in the


1980s and 1990s, Chinese companies are producing


products with similar features to those from their


competitors – at cheaper prices – to gain market


share in a world burdened by the economic crisis.


And, thanks to their huge consumer base at home and


China’s reserves (at USD3 trillion), they have started to


buy foreign companies: Huawei telecommunications


and electronics, Lenovo computers (owner of IBM),


Geely cars (owner of Volvo), Wanda real estate (owner


of America’s largest theatre chain, AMC), PetroChina


Oil (owner of 50 percent of Singapore Petroleum),


Li Ning Sports Apparel (owner of Kason), CNR Trains


(with multiple contracts for high speed railways) and


COMAC commercial aviation (with close to 1,000


orders for its new ARJ-21 and C919 jets) – these are just


a few of the names making headlines worldwide.


The statistics painting the picture of China’s


economic miracle are astonishing. Their compromise


to embrace a market economy in tandem with socialist


ideals leaves analysts to ponder whether China can


remain classified as a communist country.


It’s a heated debate. Xu Bin, Associate Dean of the


China-Europe Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai,


elaborates: “It has features of both systems. It’s a


hybrid. And we can argue that China has beaten the


West at its own game with the weapons designed by


traditional colonial powers to keep their supremacy,”


he says. “Communism doesn’t equal poverty, or lack of


ambition. We still have features of a planned economy,


like state-owned enterprises, and a social welfare


system which, despite its flaws, has lifted hundreds


of millions of people – 400 million according to the


United Nations – out of poverty, and gives at least basic


assistance to all in need.”


In fact, China’s per-capita GDP has almost tripled


since 2002, while many Western powers have seen


theirs decline due to the global financial meltdown.


That, Beijing argues, shows that China’s system works.


“Communism doesn’t equal poverty,


or lack of ambition. We still have


features of a planned economy”


Xu Bin, China-Europe Business School

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