Posted on 02/01/2009 12:25:15 AM PST by nickcarraway
LONDON: The collapse of the export trade in China has left millions jobless and set off a wave of violent unrest in the country.
Bankruptcies, unemployment and social unrest are spreading more widely in China than officially reported, according to an independent research that paints an ominous picture for the world economy, The Sunday Times reported.
The research was conducted for the newspaper over the last two months in three provinces vital to Chinese trade - Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu.
It was found that the global economic crisis has scythed through exports and set off dozens of protests that are never mentioned by the state media.
According to the report in the southern province of Guangdong, three jobless men detonated a bomb in a business travellers' hotel in the commercial city of Foshan to extort money from the management.
All along the coast, angry workers besieged labour offices and government buildings after dozens of factories closed their doors, without paying wages and their owners went back to Hong Kong, Taiwan or South Korea.
In southern China, hundreds of workers blocked a highway to protest against pay cuts imposed by managers. At several factories, there were scenes of chaos as police were called to stop creditors breaking in to seize equipment in lieu of debts.
In northern China, television journalists were punished after they prepared a story on the occupation of a textile mill by 6,000 workers.
Furious local leaders in the city of Linfen said the news item would "destroy social stability" and banned it.
“...the collapse of export is far and away more significant to other countries than to China.”
You’re the ones having the riots, not us. If the Chinese economy is doing as wonderfully as you try to present, why are people rioting? You forget that “significant” is in the eye of the beholder - in this case, chinese workers disagree with you.
You see, the streets of my country are quiet today. You can’t even be sure that your totalitarian government is allowing the full story of your civil unrest to be reported.
Whatever your numbers, people are not numbers. Clearly, the social significance is far greater for the Chinese dictatorship than the western democracies.
Same article but longer from the Times of London: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article5627687.ece
As far as toys and kids clothes are concerned there are the new regulations for lead(Pb) and pthalates that should crush that end of the economy around Feb. 10th?
The key to China is domestic consumption in my opinion. In a country the size of China and with it’s history the protests isn’t an indicator of major crisis. If they can increase their domestic consumption and have more pro business climate than most of the World I think they will be fine.
Most Freepers don’t know that Japan managed to have a positive export balance during the Great Depression. They pretty much had to starve to do so but I think the Japanese example is much more doable by the Chinese than anyone else today.
China will either emerge from this crisis as the largest most powerful economy on the planet or they will blow it.
I might be wrong but I don’t think they will blow it.
They will redirect the hatred toward some other enemy and start a war.
By 1011 at the latest
Even in a democracy, leaders are heaped scorn. Just do a word search for Obama on the FR :)
I would like to see democracy come to China some day, in its timing. But judging by your postings, I do not believe you want what's best for China, democracy or no democracy.
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