> RAK your post now is attracting flies from all over the world. How did
> you do it is amazing?LOL
>
> RichAsianKid wrote:
>> Holy Crap!! Is this really true?
>>
>> (1)
>> "It is not a secret anymore that 250 million Chinese people live on
>> less than $1 per day. Another 700 million or 47 percent of the
>> population, live on less than $2 a day. The work conditions of Chinese
>> laborers - the people who provide the world with every affordable
>> consumer products from T-shirts and bras to home appliances and
>> computers - are far from pleasant. They often work between 60 to 70
>> hours weekly."
>>
>> Oh, so that's how *they* do it. No wonder Chinese products are so
>> cheap!!
>>
>> (2)
>> "Overall urban and rural unemployment rate in China is estimated at
>> approximately 30 percent."
>>
>> Whoa.
>>
>> I'm no bleeding heart human rights advocate as anyone knows, and am
>> certainly no leftist, but I find these stats pretty appalling even by
>> my 'callous' standards. And no, I don't care about Gini coefficients,
>> or pretend to be the advocate for the poor, or this nation-state thing
>> which must be tearing the heart of some idealistic Western libs out!!
>>
>> Phew!! After reading this I should be more Confucian (excuse me,
>> rst0wxyz). RAK bows, geez, thank you mom and dad. Thank you for not
>> having me born in mainland China or having me grow up there. I promise
>> you I won't drag & drift my bimmer dangerously again........
>>
>> ===========
>> Article: China, the WTO and Globalization: Looking beyond growth
>> figures
>> Feburary, 2006
>>
http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/free/wto/news/2006/0128wto_china.html
>> and mirror link
>>
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=6929
>>
>> China, the WTO and Globalization: Looking beyond growth figures
>> By Dorothy Guerrero*
>>
>> BEIJING'S pre-Christmas announcement of its readjusted 2004 gross
>> domestic product (GDP) made an international stir and sent economists
>> scampering to their calculating tables so they can revise their
>> predictions concerning when China may overtake the US as the world's
>> biggest economy. There is a 17 percent difference between the Chinese
>> government's previous report about its gross national income of $1.65
>> trillion and the recomputed figure, which amounted to $2 trillion. The
>> new calculation carries a significant implication: it means that China
>> is a much bigger economy than we thought. It means that it already
>> climbed to the fourth slot in the world's ranking of largest economy
>> all this time, which are two notches higher from previous position of
>> number six.
>>
>> There is no doubt that this advance in the pack is impressive. Official
>> statistics illustrate two decades of very strong annual growth rate of
>> real GDP, which has averaged around 9.2 percent. Since 2001 it is the
>> world's number two in purchasing power parity (PPP). Many countries
>> envy its record of economic progress. However, this record-growth
>> produces a big misconception that it is a big winner of globalization.
>> Although there is truth to the claim that on-going market reforms and
>> China's opening to the global economy gave millions of Chinese people
>> an increased standard of living, many new and critical documents are
>> also arguing that there are more Chinese people that are suffering
>> because of its rapid transition to market-based economy.
>>
>> For the majority of the Chinese people the more meaningful and
>> important question is not "when will China become the world's number
>> one?" Rather, they are asking, "When will the benefits of China's rise
>> to superpower status start to affect our lives positively?" True
>> enough, being number one - as in the case of the US for a long time -
>> does not necessarily guarantee an end to poverty for marginalized
>> people and the likelihood of better opportunities and access to
>> resources. New studies on the relationship between poverty reduction
>> and inequality show that there is no necessary connection between free
>> trade and poverty reduction. (1) In fact, a close study of China's case
>> as a catch-up economy since reform started in 1978 shows that greater
>> openness to external trade was not the driving force behind its
>> success.
>>
>> In the recent 6th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in
>> Hong Kong, which was held from December 13 to 18, the spotlight was on
>> China. Its economic performance after WTO accession is probably one of
>> the most highly watched developments since it will support or smash
>> notions about free trade and economic liberalization as necessary
>> preconditions for economic development. Although China displayed a
>> not-so energetic host posture and is still finishing its transition
>> stage that will end in 2013, its fulfillment of its WTO obligations
>> concerns many.
>> CHINA'S ACCESSION TO THE WTO
>>
>> China joined the WTO in December 2001. Since then, it amended more than
>> 2,500 of its national laws and regulations and abolished more than 800
>> others to fulfill WTO rules. (2) Until now, there is no accurate
>> general calculation about the implications of these changes on people's
>> livelihood. Some of the estimated negative impacts are minimal or
>> negative employment growth in the sectors such as agriculture,
>> automobiles, machinery and instruments. On the other hand employment
>> gain occurred in industries such as plant-based fibers, livestock and
>> meat, clothing, light manufacturing and electronics. (3) What is clear,
>> however, is that membership to the multilateral trade body further
>> deepened the Chinese economy's dependency on external trade and foreign
>> investment.
>>
>> Prior to its integration into the international trade regime, WTO
>> supporters within the Chinese government argued that accession would
>> help China further expand its market, accelerate the restructuring of
>> its industries and improve its legal system. The Chinese Ministry of
>> Commerce report in the second quarter of 2005 shows that the total
>> volume of international trade in 2004 has exceeded one trillion US
>> dollars and that China is now the third biggest trader worldwide. The
>> report also shows that foreign investment reached US$53.51 billion that
>> year while the estimate for 2005 is that it will exceed US$60 billion.
>> The fourth quarter report for 2005 shows that four hundred and fifty of
>> the world's top 500 companies have invested in China. (4)
>>
>> China became the favorite destination of foreign direct investments
>> (FDI) because of the attractive benefits it offers. China has a very
>> friendly business environment that includes adjusted tax rates for FDI,
>> which is half the rate that state-owned enterprises normally pay. It
>> gives good conditions for guaranteed profits for transnational
>> corporations (TNCs) such as low rent, cheap natural resources and lax
>> rules for its exploitation, low wages for workers, absence of
>> independent trade unions, no-strike laws and many others.
>>
>> The international business community was happy to note during the WTO
>> ministerial in Hong Kong that Beijing complied well with its
>> commitments to the WTO. China cut its overall agricultural tariffs from
>> 54 percent in 2001 to 15.3 percent in 2005 and this will be further
>> reduced to 15.2 percent in 2006. No single member has made such a huge
>> cut in such a short period of time in the WTO history. The average
>> agricultural tariff worldwide is now 62 per cent.
>>
>> The future of the agricultural sector was one of the most important
>> concerns during the talks in Hong Kong. The dominant view among
>> economists within China is that agriculture is comparatively
>> unimportant relative to other promising and more beneficial sectors
>> since China is not a major exporter of agricultural products. The
>> agricultural sector only contributes 15 percent to China's GDP.
>> However, the number of people that depends on agriculture for survival
>> and development is still huge.
>>
>> Huge adjustments were also made on import tariffs, financial services
>> and government procurement. Import tariffs for 2005 were cut to an
>> average of 9.4 percent from 15.3 percent in early 2001. Tariffs on
>> information-technology products, including computers and
>> telecommunications gear, have fallen to zero from 13.3 percent over the
>> same period. (5) Since December 2004, foreign banks were allowed local
>> currency operations in 18 Chinese cities.
>>
>> Beijing agreed to begin talks on joining the WTO Government Procurement
>> Agreement during the second half of 2005. When such agreement is fully
>> reached, it will grant foreign companies nondiscriminatory access to
>> government purchases. At the moment, Chinese government agencies are
>> required to purchase equipment and technology only from Chinese-owned
>> companies unless there is no existing commercially viable alternative.
>> BEHIND THE STATISTICS
>>
>> It is not a secret anymore that 250 million Chinese people live on less
>> than $1 per day. Another 700 million or 47 percent of the population,
>> live on less than $2 a day. The work conditions of Chinese laborers -
>> the people who provide the world with every affordable consumer
>> products from T-shirts and bras to home appliances and computers - are
>> far from pleasant. They often work between 60 to 70 hours weekly.
>>
>> In sparkling modern cities like Shenzhen in Guangdong province,
>> modernity has two sides: one is the US-educated corporate executives
>> and technical experts who work in impressive high-rises, the other is
>> the millions who sweat in mindless, repetitive factory work in the
>> "special economic zones". Those who belong to the second category
>> receive as little as $100 per month. Most complain about the tasteless
>> food in their cafeterias and cramped dormitories where 10 to 20 workers
>> share a small room. The majority of them are migrant workers from rural
>> areas who lack access to many basic social benefits, have few
>> possibilities for upward mobility and have no security of employment.
>> This vast "floating population" is driven to the cities by the hopeless
>> situations in their villages and the increasing gap between life in the
>> cities and the countryside.
>>
>> Economic growth has been uneven and unfair to those in the agricultural
>> sectors. Agricultural wages are stagnant despite China's phenomenal
>> economic rise. Unemployment in the rural areas is now in an alarming
>> state - the government estimate is that the unemployed and
>> underemployed rural labor now number around 100-120 million. (6)
>>
>> The pattern of migration to urban areas is comparable to Japan's
>> experience during the period of post-war industrialization. In 1947,
>> 700 million people or 50 percent of Japan's workforce used to be
>> involved in agriculture. This was reduced to less than three percent by
>> 2002. (7) China's case is more rapid and more dramatic, entailing
>> bigger demands for adjustments and posing bigger problems to the
>> expanding cities than Japan. Three hundred million Chinese are expected
>> to migrate from the rural areas into the cities before 2020. This is
>> one of the largest migrations in human history.
>>
>> China's problems about its "surplus labor" present many daunting
>> challenges as it transforms itself into a knowledge and service-based
>> economy. It is not easy to create productive employment for its 744
>> million-strong labor force. China needs to create 300 million new jobs
>> within the next decade to absorb or re-employ those who lost their jobs
>> in the agricultural sector as well as former state-owned enterprises
>> (SOEs) and provide work for the new members of the labor force. (8)
>>
>> The lack of jobs and poor conditions in the rural areas are bound to
>> result in the loss of the already limited agricultural land to
>> development as well as diminished income because of excessive taxation.
>> The central government is saying that some policy measures to improve
>> the situation in the country side are starting to be implemented and
>> are in fact generating positive results. However, the general
>> development in the rural areas is still lagging behind the urban areas
>> by ten years. The state of the environment is also deteriorating and
>> this is increasingly affecting people's health and livelihoods.
>> Protests and rioting triggered by generally felt injustice and
>> environmental problems are now an almost daily occurrence in the
>> countryside.
>>
>> A recent World Bank study notes that China's farmers were already
>> suffering declining income in the years before WTO entry. But the
>> linking of China's fortunes to foreign markets has aggravated the
>> trend, particularly as China removes tariffs that once protected local
>> farmers from imports.
>>
>> reduced by 40 percent (46 million), while workers in collectively owned
>> urban enterprises decreased by 60 percent (18.6 million). Laid-off
>> state workers (registered) are around 34 million. Many of these
>> laid-off workers only received partial payment when their SOEs closed
>> down. At the local level, problems are now arising due to the uncertain
>> future of 23 million town and village enterprises (TVEs), which employ
>> around 135 million people. The TVEs, which served as the driving force
>> of the local economy in the 1980s, are now saddled with rising costs
>> and competition from foreign firms. Overall urban and rural
>> unemployment rate in China is estimated at approximately 30 percent.
>>
>> China's courtship of foreign investment dramatically affected SOEs.
>> According to Hart-Landsberg and Burkett in their book "China and
>> Socialism" (9) the loss of profitability of state enterprises is
>> connected with the increased reliance to foreign investors. Since state
>> enterprises pay relatively high taxes (compared to foreign investors)
>> as well as employment, investment and employee-welfare responsibilities
>> (pension, housing, health care) they became increasingly uncompetitive
>> compared to private enterprises. The decrease in the SOEs
>> profitability, coupled with management problems as well as corruption,
>> resulted to their indebtedness. As their overdue debts increased in
>> volume, the government opted to privatise them as a way to unload the
>> government burden. Privatisation encouraged greater dependency on
>> foreign investors, who started purchasing the ailing state enterprises.
>> The state enterprises' share of industrial output fell from 64 percent
>> in 1995 to 30 percent in 2002. The SOEs are now operating at a loss of
>> about one percent of GDP each year. (10)
>>
>> Exports took a leading role and to continue the rapid growth, the
>> economy relied more and more on foreign enterprises especially in
>> high-tech industries. The increasing centrality of exports and foreign
>> investments rationalized the economy's dependency to global trade and
>> investment agreements and, above all, the WTO.
>>
>> China's rapid growth was indeed achieved with many social and
>> environmental trade-offs. It now symbolizes the many wrongs that come
>> with corporate-driven form of economic globalization. Privatization and
>> the increasing power of local elites and foreign enterprises in China
>> are magnifying the already huge division between the winners and losers
>> of such growth. The UNDP's Human Development Report for 2005
>> illustrated an alarming increase in the country's income disparity.
>> China's Gini coefficient (a measure of equality/inequality: 0 means
>> everyone has the same income; 1 means one person has all the income)
>> hit 0.465 in 2004, and it is estimated to approach up to 0.47 in 2005.
>> (11)
>> LEADERSHIP OF THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES?
>>
>> While China's rise is giving expectations that it will become the "new
>> empire", the world's fastest and largest developing country seems to
>> harbor no intention of establishing itself as the advocate of the
>> world's poor. The other big players, India and Brazil, have shown more
>> interest in playing that role. During the process of negotiations prior
>> to the Hong Kong WTO meeting, China did not put any important proposals
>> on the table.
>>
>> China's entry to the WTO probably extended the level of transparency in
>> China on issues that are of prime interest to corporations, which
>> includes contracts, regulation of foreign investments, intellectual
>> property rights and other concerns. However, the full exercise of
>> corporate responsibility within China is still far from ideal, and the
>> reality of greater crackdowns on independent organizing efforts by
>> Chinese workers remains.
>>
>> The rise of China contradicts the earlier commonly held view in the
>> West, particularly in Europe, that there is a decline in the
>> nation-state development framework. Less than a decade ago, many
>> adhered to the idea that the future belongs to unions of nation-states,
>> along the model of the European Union and ASEAN. The current trend,
>> which is showing the rise of countries such as China and India, seems
>> to indicate the ascendancy of a new kind of mega-nation-state. It will
>> be very important to see how China as a new power will interact with
>> the US, the EU, Japan and even Russia. China is now convincing the rest
>> of the developing countries and the old powers that its rise is
>> peaceful, and it is mainly, but not exclusively, increasing its
>> influence through economic relations. How these relationships develop
>> will be crucial to follow.
>>
>> * Dorothy Guerrero is a research associate with Focus on the Global
>> South. <
d.guerreroatfocusweb.org>
>> NOTES
>>
>> 1. Martin Ravallion, "Looking Beyond Averages in the Trade and
>> Poverty Debate", paper for WIDER Workshop: The Impact of Globalisation
>> on the World's Poor, October 2004.
>> 2. "China Tackling Challenges in WTO Transition", Xinhua News,
>> December 11, 2004.
>> 3. Ianchovina, Elena, W. Martin, "Economic Impacts of China's
>> Accession to the World Trade Organization, World Bank Working Paper,
>> the World Bank, May 2003.
>> 4. Asia Times online news, December 20, 2005.
>> 5. Murray Hiebert, "Good Marks for China's WTO Obligations", Wall
>> Street Journal, November 28, 2005.
>> 6. See Dale Wen's "China Copes with Globalization", a report
>> published by the International Forum on Globalization, 2004.
>> 7. Ezra Vogel, "The Emperor is Far Away: Understanding the
>> Challenges Faced by the New Leader", Harvard International Review,
>> China: Vol.25 (2).2003.
>> 8. Douglas Shihua Zheng, "China's Employment Challenges and
>> Strategies after the WTO Accession", World Bank Policy Research Working
>> Paper 3522, February 2005.
>> 9. Martin Hart-Landsberg and David Burkett, China and Socialism:
>> Market Reforms and Class Struggle, Monthly Review Press, 2005.
>> 10. Shariff Shuja, "The Limits of Chinese Economic Reform", Jamestown
>> Foundation China Brief, Vol.5 Issue 17, 2005.
>> 11. China Economic Net, September 21, 2005.
>>
http://en.ce.cn/Insight/200509.shtml
