China has been a relatively bright spot in an otherwise gloomy global setting, said Orville H. Schell, Dean, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, USA. But predicting where China will go next is a frustrating task. "China has an amazing way of defying prediction," Schell said.
On one hand, China has a lot going for it. Its economy is booming and it is attracting an increasing portion of foreign investment to Asia. Its leadership is stable and its workforce is unrivalled in terms of cost and discipline. Its borders are peaceful and its prestige bolstered by membership in the World Trade Organization. On the other hand, China has serious problems. State-owned enterprises are haemorrhaging money, throwing more people out of work and contributing to a growing pool of migrancy. Its financial markets are largely untamed, its banks broke and corruption rife. Looming over all of that is an environment straining under the pressures of breakneck economic growth.
These challenges should help allay fears among its Asian neighbours that China will become a bully in the region, said Victor L. L. Chu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, First Eastern Investment Group, Hong Kong SAR. China’s new leaders, engineers to the man, will have their hands full coping. Nonetheless, Asia will have to learn to manage with the fact that they cannot compete with China in terms of cost. Chu suggested that Mekong nations such as Thailand could profit by promoting tourism, hosting the surging number of Chinese overseas tourists, while Korea and Japan can count on their technological edge.
Cheng Siwei, Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee, National People’s Congress, People’s Republic of China, described how his committee is drafting laws to underpin a Soci ...