“Do nothing without time, for it will not forgive having acted without it.” Whether Tibetan or Chinese, this proverb encapsulates Beijing’s dilemma: to control its economic development as effectively as possible. A series of facts and some figures will illustrate the point.
Firstly, there is the growth of China’s GDP, which could reach 9.8% in 2008 despite the authorities’ commitment to keeping it below 7.5% to protect the environment. At the other “end of the chain” stands the modest Wu family, who refuse to be expropriated, and whose house in Chongqing (in central-western China) stands isolated in the middle of a site completely razed by developers. This becomes a particularly powerful symbol since Mr. and Mrs. Wu practice martial arts, which adds a layer of resistance to the rampant urbanization.
Between these two revealing facts, a series of updates this week alone regarding Chinese economic activism. In 2006, the Middle Kingdom surpassed the United States for the first time as the European Union’s main supplier. Computer products, Hi-fi, and Telecoms were the top three sectors of Chinese exports, meanwhile exacerbating the EU’s trade deficit to 172.1 billion Euros. In 2007, a 15% increase in Chinese textile exports to Western countries was expected. A major daily noted that the recent international car show in Algiers was taken over by “a myriad of Chinese brands, the list of which is almost as long as that of established Western, Japanese, and Korean manufacturers long installed in the country.” In these conditions, the doubling of Chinese car exports worldwide each year should come as no surprise. On another continent as vast as China, the “Asia Times” highlights the concern of Indian authorities regarding China’s plan to invest nearly 1 billion dollars in southern Sri Lanka, traditionally a sphere of influence for New Delhi. Beijing’s project? To build a development zone on this strategic maritime route, including a container port, a complex for hydrocarbon storage and refining, and an airport! Clearly comfortable in the league of the greatest, China has also signed several contracts with Russia worth 4 billion dollars, including a “Chinese credit” of an additional 1 billion dollars to a Russian bank. Charity begins at home, and the Chinese authorities have amended their legislation to now block any foreign investment deals in China that might jeopardize “national economic security.” This surge of “economic patriotism” has certainly left foreign companies, anxious about the reassessment of the Chinese Eldorado, with much to ponder.
500 days before the start of the Beijing Olympics, the Middle Kingdom is preparing to publish and distribute three million copies of a “Citizen’s Manual on Civic Pride and Respect” intended to complement a “politeness” campaign already launched among the capital’s residents. It seems that, in its economic activism or within its borders, China’s own greatest enemy is still itself.
