Posted on 10/17/2022 4:57:34 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
China is losing its influence; it’s in decline. At the same time, however, China, ruled by a despotic regime, is responsible for 28.7 percent of global manufacturing output (more than 10 percentage points ahead of its No. 1 rival, the United States). This utter dependence on China for manufacturing must be stopped. As I write this, three countries are working to siphon customers away from China. Will their efforts prove to be successful?
I speak from experience when I say the following: communist China is not a fun place to live in. Moreover, with its frequent power cuts and the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) obsession with “zero -COVID” policies, it’s not a fun place to do business in, either. Such an obsession with eradicating a borderline-endemic disease is not conducive to a healthy society; in fact, it borders on the pathological.
The CCP’s utter blindness is not lost on major companies like Apple, Google, and Samsung. The three tech giants are moving more of their operations to Vietnam, home to the fastest-growing economy in Asia and one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
Vietnam seems to offer a considerably more favorable environment to big businesses fed up with China’s constant lockdowns and production disruptions.
As the author Govi Snell recently reported, due to its cheap labor and close proximity to China, Vietnam is attracting an increasing number of renowned businesses. Greg Poling, director of the Southeast Asia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told Snell that many of these businesses no longer see a future in China. Between the trade war with the United States, rising labor costs, and the complete failure of supply chains during COVID, said Poling, the CCP’s “zero-COVID” policy should be viewed as the straw that broke the camel’s back.
China’s loss is Vietnam’s gain. Take Foxconn, for example, a Taiwan-headquartered manufacturer of smartphones for Apple. The company recently signed a $300 million contract with Kinh Bac City, a Vietnamese corporation, to expand its facility in Hanoi, a city located in the north of the country.
The move could prove to be monumental, considering Foxconn—a company that has done so much of its business in China—is exploring the possibility of entering the world of semiconductor manufacturing.
Apple recently announced plans to shift more of its production away from China and into India. Interestingly, Foxconn is currently manufacturing Apple’s latest phone, the iPhone14, at its factory in Chennai, located in eastern India. Like Vietnam, India is home to a rapidly-expanding economy. Set to become the most populated country in the world very soon, India has aspirations of becoming a worldwide manufacturing hub by the end of the decade. Such aspirations appear to be rooted in reality. Last year, India ranked second in the Global Manufacturing Index, leapfrogging the United States.
Another country with dreams of becoming a manufacturing hub of genuine significance is Mexico. In July, the author Jeremy Bliss asked, somewhat rhetorically, why Mexico? He then laid out several reasons why companies, especially those based in the United States, should seriously consider moving their operations to Mexico.
In addition to its “optimal location along the US’s southern border,” he wrote, Mexico offers “convenient access to North America, as well as Atlantic and Pacific trade routes.” Indeed, it does. Moreover, when comparing Mexico’s cost of labor and transportation fees with other manufacturing hubs, the North American nation offers a very favorable environment. For these reasons, noted Bliss, “Mexico can connect businesses to more than one billion consumers and 60% of the world’s GDP.” This explains why so many companies—including BMW, Nissan, Honda, Audi, Daimler, Mazda, and Toyota—have moved a large portion of their operations to Mexico or are building new assembly plants there.
You undoubtedly noticed that all seven of these companies are foreign automakers. They are attracted to Mexico because of the country’s highly-skilled workforce, low energy costs, and free-trade agreements. The IMMEX program, which was signed into effect in 2006, allows foreign companies to conduct full operations in Mexico with low-tax structures and significantly reduced labor costs.
This brings us back to the title of this short piece, can any of these countries replace China as the world’s factory? To many, the question seems utterly ridiculous. But it really shouldn’t. If enough companies turn away from China and direct their business elsewhere, the world can gradually become less reliant on China. This won’t be easy and will take some time—but it can be done.
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Big business remind me of locusts at times. The only standards they have is that they have no standards
Producing goods anywhere just isn't so easy, any more. Expect indefinite inflation.
And purge all commies aka democrats and rinos.
Make America Great Again!
Sure, there are evil companies. But in general I don’t blame big business much.
Let’s say there are American companies that make widgets. Their factories are in the USA. They all sell widgets for around $20 apiece. Company #20 decides to move its factories to China.
Company #20 can now sell its widgets for $5 apiece. The quality isn’t quite as good as the ones made in America. But it’s good enough.
The other 19 companies now have a choice. Move to China, or go bankrupt.
It’s not up to business to solve this problem. It’s up to the government. And as others here have noted, that won’t be an easy task.
Cut welfare off completely to the people who should be working.
In Taiwan they train disabled people for whatever job they can do. For example blind people are taught massage and they are pretty good at it.
Sorry. In post#24 it should read:
Let’s say there are 20 American companies that make widgets.
Combine Honnette Ober Advancer Mercantiles.
But that is not to say CHOOM.
RE: India is too far.
So is China, but we used them. So, why not India?
Role roll row well
Haha!!! Spellcheck
Fossil fuel bad.
Greta says so and democrats obey.
Did Biden sniff her hair?
Time for Trump dammit.
“Can Any of These Countries Replace China as the Factory of the World?”
Well, the US certainly cannot replace China, unless it first does away with its labor unions. Beyond that, the US also has to deal with Leftists who make it next to impossible to do business in this country.
“CO2 produced by white people is bad.
CO2 produced by non whites is okay.
Understood?”
I wish that were the case, but as far as I can see, the MAIN REASON the Neocons and Globalists are teasing WW3 is to bring Russia to heel, so they STOP selling their hydrocarbons to the rest of the world. Similar with China, to get them to stop burning coal and turn back the clock on their development to a ‘more sustainable’ (i.e., poverty) level.
And, assuming that Neocons/Globalists somehow manage to succeed with Russia/China without wiping out 90% of humanity in the process, then the rest of the world will be powerless to stop them.
And if they wipe out 90% of humanity trying to take down Russia and China - same result, far less use of hydrocarbons and when they emerge from their bunkers, so they’ll also consider themselves successful.
Uranium, oil, minerals, coasts on two oceans, a religious population, plenty of sun for solar... the only excuse Mexico has for not being one of the richest nations on the planet is their government.
I was just being my usual smartass self.
On a serious level, a lot of situations that are arising do not portend well.
Globalists/NeoCons want war and they’ll get it.
Aargh...red in the face.
English is fun!
Why “replace”? It’s more like “supplement.” India, Southeast Asia (with Indonesia and The Philippines), Brazil, and various countries in Latin America are all possibilities for more manufacturing, but the US also has to get into the act. It was stupid to think that we were going to go on designing everything when we stopped being where things are made.
India is almost twice as far by ocean from West Coast container ports. We can and already do use them, but it won’t be cheap.
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