Your weekly dose of China “stats that amaze,” courtesy the International Herald Tribune/10.20.2004:
“China is developing into the new, dominant economy in the world, into the master of globalization.”—Konrad Seitz, German scholar & diplomat
“We (the West) have enormously underestimated what is happening in China and in all of Asia.”—Jurgen Hambrecht, Chairman, BASF (the world’s largest chemical company, based in Germany)
2003: China attracts $53 billion in inward investment, seizing the #1 ranking from the U.S.A. (The $53B also exceeds all of the EU.)
(2003: As an aside to the China Story, but not the encompassing Globalization Story-playing-near-you, the IHT article notes that the white-hot global battle for efficient homes for investment $$$$ caused Britain and Germany to fall out of the Inward Investment Top 5 ranking, supplanted by … Mexico and Poland.)
China’s industry strategy: (1) Acquire technology via licensing and joint ventures. (2) Apply that technology to numerous Chinese competing companies, starting a cost-competitive struggle in China’s domestic market that wipes out poor performers in a flash. (3) Using the Star Chinese Survivors of violent domestic warfare, begin to compete globally with the original foreign companies from whom you licensed or with whom you engaged in JVs. Interesting, eh?
Are we paying attention yet? Should you write in Pat Buchanan on NOV2, and pray for a good dose of protectionism?