'PROTECTIONISM'
[Hoje Macau, Macau]
China Daily,
People's Republic of China
Predictions of Western Decline are 'Presumptuous'
Should Chinese take pleasure in the
economic pain of the West, while rejoicing at the way their country has
weathered the global economic crisis? According to Hong Liang of the state-run China
Daily, those who now do so are engaged in a self-defeating delusion.
By Hong Liang
December 11, 2009
People's Republic of China - China Daily -
Original Article (English)
Asian countries can be
excused for feeling somewhat smug for having so smartly regained their footing
after the shock of the so-called financial tsunami still wrecking havoc on the
developed world's economies.
While we congratulate
ourselves on our governments' quick and apparently effective response to the
crisis and the resilience of its long-standing economic policies, we should
take a few minutes to reflect on what those wounded economic giants of the West
are going to do next. It's important to bear in mind that the many predictions in
the media and on the Internet of the West's decline are presumptuous.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
The financial crisis may have
shaken the economic foundations of the United States and Europe. But both still
enjoy a comfortable technological lead over their developing counterparts. More
importantly, perhaps, is that the U.S. and a few European nations maintain a
firm hold on the global trade in oil and many other key natural resources.
To be sure, the major Western
economies are still mired in an economic recession triggered by a financial
crisis of their own making. Many a mighty financial house in the U.S. and
Europe has shrunk in size and stature. Hundreds of thousands of workers in the
developed economies have been laid off and many others have had their pay cut. In
the U.S., for instance, the unemployment rate has hovered above 10 percent for
many months. But these must be seen as temporary setbacks and not, as some
Chinese commentators suggest, a debilitating breakdown of the Western economic
system.
To many people in the United
States and Europe, the economic problem they now face is rooted in the massive international
payment imbalances that manifest most clearly in the huge U.S. trade deficit
with a number of Asian countries, particularly China. The notion is compelling
the governments of some Western economies to introduce hasty trade barriers
against an increasing number of products imported from developing countries.
Of course intellectually,
economic planners around the world know that global trade wars have no winners.
But the governments of the major importing countries that are running huge
trade deficits are under increasing pressure from voters to address the
imbalance.
The rising wave of trade
protectionism in some Western economies extends beyond import barriers to currency.
The call for China to revaluate the yuan [$1=6.8 yuan] has gathered momentum,
although it isn't clear how big an influence currency parity has on global
trade patterns.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
What's
so lucrative about selling chicken to China? We sell them
parts
of the bird that we won’t eat - like the feet. Worth just a
few cents
a pound in the U.S., American chicken feet fetch 60-80
cents a
pound in China. China is now investigating a clamp down.
SEE ALSO ON THIS:
Xinjingbao, China:
On Trade, China Must Target Conservative U.S. Democrats
China Daily:
Pleased and Perplexed By U.S. Presidential Use of Chinese Proverbs
La Tribune, France:
Why Rising China Can't Compete With the 'American Dream'
Al Riyadh, Saudi Arabia:
'China Model' May Leave 'Washington Consensus' in the Dust
The Star, Malaysia:
Let's Hope a Risen China is More Responsible than U.S.
Financial Times Deutschland:
Obama's China Trip Heralds 'World Without Leadership'
Global Times, China :
The Well-Disguised
'Arrogance' Behind
Obama's Royal Bow
The Times, U.K.:
Obama Bow Shows 'Confidence'; Need
for Change After Bush
Global Times, China:
Addiction to Growth is China's 'Berlin Wall'
A decline in the West's
economic fortunes doesn't necessarily mean a corresponding rise in Asia. Rather,
the economic problems of the United States and Europe could eventually drag down
developing economies that don't have large and well-developed domestic markets
to counter a prolonged export slump.
It's in the interests of exporting
countries in Asia and elsewhere to be seen to take a positive stance in
cooperating with developed countries to help them combat the economic problems
their countries confront. The decline of the West is nothing to rejoice over -
even if it were true. Ask exporters in Wenzhou or Zhuhai, and I'm sure they'll
say they wish customers in the United States and Europe would prosper rather
than get squeezed by the credit crunch.
E-mail: jamesleung@chinadaily.com.cn
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US, Dec. 14, 2:19am
