Today’s yin and yang on China
“EU Rejects China’s ‘Market Economy’ Request,” by Dow Jones Newswire, Wall Street Journal, 29 June, p. A12.
“In China, Turf Battle Rages: Foreign Rivals Challenge Local Giants as Landscape Changes,” by Charles Hutzler, WSJ, 29 June, p. A12.
“Tortured Logistics Take Toll on Growth: Help for China’s creaky transport system is likely to come from foreign companies,” by Jane Lanhee Lee, WSJ, 29 June, p. A12.
Europe says, like the U.S., that they haven’t seen enough yet from China to call it a “market economy.” But that judgment is coming, it’s just a question of time. You can’t be the world’s #1 target of FDI and remain a non-market economy for long.
Another good example of that marketization of China coming full circle? When the Chinese Communist Party picks Dell for its order of several hundred new PCs, preferring it to the reigning domestic producer. Cripes!
But what really pushes China fastest down the pathway of more complete marketization is simply the logistics of moving all that commerce across a country roughly the size of the continental U.S. Again, back to the Decalogue: infrastructure determines all. For China to make the infrastructure happen, it will need foreign expertise aplenty, but foreign investment funds even more.