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After North America, Europe, and
Japan, the area of China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong is a fourth growth pole in the
world economy (Jue 108) which in 1994 was expected to double in size by 2002.
Today, the growth rate is still on track to fulfill that prediction. Recent
Chinese economic policies have shot the country into the world economy at full
speed. As testimony of this, China’s gross domestic product has risen to seventh
in the world, and its economy is growing at over nine percent per year (econ-gen
1). Starting in 1979, the Chinese have implemented numerous economic and
political tactics to open the Chinese marketplace to the rest of the world.
Chinese reform measures even anticipated the rush of foreign investment by
opening newly expanded industries to out-of-country investors.
As trade expands
globally and countries within geographical proximity and of similar cultural
descent and philosophies ally themselves in order to better compete on a world
level, we are seeing the development of increasing number of geographical trade
alliances, whatever the underlying reasons behind each. The alliances that have
been in place for a while are proving to be very successful in competing in the
international markets, stimulating the economies of nearly all of their member
states. Effects of this change in economic strategy by a world power can be felt
by practically every nation of the globe involved in international trade.
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The change in the amount of
imports and exports to and from China will increase the demand on countless
markets. Also, with all the foreign investment China is receiving, the
socialistic republic will only grow more and more interdependent upon the world
economy. However, the impressive growth rate of China’s economy is not without
its shortcomings. Problems such as inflation and inefficient state-owned
enterprises plague the rise of the Chinese economy. When China opened its
economic borders 19 years ago, environmentalists spoke of the efficiency of
their farming systems and how they used hardly any organic fuels in the
production of food for their people relative to some of the other countries of
the world-most notably the United States. What they neglected to mention,
however, that one farmer at the end of one rake struggling to feed his family
kept fuel consumption very low indeed. It was not, by any stretch, efficient.
Matching conditions still exist today. Rumors of the wonderful prosperity of the
south and eastern provinces have reached the more isolated-and less
prosperous-interior provinces.
Those current farmers who would travel in order
to be more prosperous themselves are often stopped at the borders of industrial
growth and made to turn back. Everyone in China seemingly wants a share, but the
industrial provinces can physically support no more drain on their existing
housing and infrastructures, and they are finding themselves unable to enhance
their current positions despite their economic prosperity. When examining an
issue, it is imperative to honestly look at all sides, and not all of China’s
sides are forthcoming. The country has indeed become more open toward foreign
investment, and in fact openly courts it.
China have been known to have placed
several restrictions on the multinational companies that have opened operations
within their borders, but they are generally not so restrictive as to be
prohibitive. For example, after IBM accepted China’s conditions regarding the
true ownership of IBM’s facilities and environmental rulings, it seemed that all
of the rest of the world wanted to join in. Deng Xiaoping called China’s
entrance to and courting of the industrialized world crossing the river by
feeling for the stones (The Economist 26).
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