The dark side of China

BBC ^ | Rupert Wingfield-Hayes

[TaiwanSemiconductor]

China today gets only about 20% of its GDP from exports. This compares to about 40-70% for most other Asian countries today. In other words, China today is already a large market in and of itself. For instance, it is already the #1 global market for cell phones, refrigerators, beer, light bulbs, air conditioner units, and elevators. In addition, it is #2 in PC's and Ford's CEO predicts that by 2008, China will overtake Japan as the #2 car market (it is #4 currently). This is not to say that exports are not important. But over time, China will become the world's biggest market in and of itself, larger than America's. At that time, America will find itself trying to sell China its "trinkets" rather than vice versa. America's Fortune 500 will be getting most of its revenues from China rather than America itself (China is already Intel Corp.'s #2 market), with all the political, geopolitical, military, and oil implications that that fact entails.

[skeeter]

But over time, China will become the world's biggest market in and of itself, larger than America's. At that time, America will find itself trying to sell China its "trinkets" rather than vice versa.

I guess we'll have to wait & see whether China ends up as the manufacturer's Valhalla (as they've been promising for decades) or remains a third world dump, as I believe it will.

In the meantime, enjoy your 'workers paradise', friend.

[TaiwanSemiconductor]

Well, then, tell your friends to stop feeling so alarmed and threatened by the growing economic and military power of a country you say will never be more than a "third world dump."