China: friend or foe?
THE EDITOR, Madam
ARE WE, in the west, sleep-walking towards the precipice of doom? It seems to me, and other like-minded thinkers, that the future problems for black countries and their economies is the inertia and lack of foresight displayed by weak and corruptible governments, whereas in the white, northern countries, those governments are primarily concerned about maintaining their political status.
China, it seems, is the answer for cheaply produced products, and now, they are manufacturing high-technology products from aeroplanes to robots and selling them to Western countries. As a result of economies of scale, large Western companies have opted for cheaper production in China, thereby improving their bottom line and gratifying their shareholders in the short term.
In the case of countries in Africa and other developing nations, the cost of China’s infrastructure development will keep them indebted to China for many generations, and in the longer term, possibly forced to accept China’s military installations in their countries.
In the case of Europe and North America, the short-term benefits afforded by Chinese contracts will, in the longer term, lead to the depletion of industrial capabilities, and large scale unemployment. A recent consequence of producing most low-cost products in China was the chronic shortage of PPE and ICU products.
Unfortunately, companies only concern themselves with profitability, so sourcing all their requirements in China and moving manufacturing there makes economic sense in the short term. However, the West should wake up to the fact that a nation of 1.4 billion educated and technologically advanced people that provides most of the worlds requirements will very soon dictate what happens across the world.
In the case of underdeveloped countries, getting smart now is necessary for their survival as depending on tourism is not viable any more as most sources of tourism are slowly being depleted from the recent pandemic. There should now be focus on trade, engineering, lowlevel technology, a pharmaceutical industry, clean energy, and research activities.
The developing countries should do what the Chinese have been doing for the last 40 years: encouraging foreign companies to set up facilities in their country by offering various tax incentives, cheap labour ,and private-public partnerships to energise and grow their economies. Not only would this educate and up-skill their population, but it would build the foundation for a strong economy going forward generations into the future.
KEITH WALKER