- 26 May 2020 11:28
#15094354
Like it or not, ultimately there is nothing to stop China. Obama started to contain the country by a number of trade deals that aimed to isolate China. Trump has undone that and maneuvered the US into a position of weakness just like he did with the Taliban, NK and Iran by some silly and vain posturing.
I think it's a mistake to try and isolate China. China should get developed nation status and fully integrate in the global economy. However, there should be a tit for tat; ie., any market limitations imposed on foreign companies in China should automatically result in similar market limitations for Chinese companies abroad. If it wasn't for Trump's unilateralism, there could be a broad coalition of countries rallying behind such measures.
I think we have seen peak-neoliberalism. In Europe and elsewhere, there is the feeling that there are limits to deregulation and privatization and that the state should take a greater role in the economy. Even if we don't go as far as the state-directed economy typical of China, there may be a middle ground where both can meet. Let's not forget, China is by no means unique in this respect. In Asia, the governments of Japan, Korea, Taiwan, etc., all have used industrial policies that function much like China's state-directed economy for building national champions. By using similar policies we can level the playing field by removing the unfair advantages China currently enjoys over market economies.
The Chinese are not invincible super-humans. We can compete with them if we drop the ideological blinkers and apply the right measures. Even if they enjoy certain advantages, they also have problems like corruption that will prove to be an obstacle in their ability to compete.
Anyways, the US-China rivalry can only have negative consequences.
Wellsy wrote:China is an interesting beast with a state managed economy with private enterprise still a minority unlike any other nation in terms of public assets. It looks like they’re going to become a technological exporter over and above the current manufacturing center of the world they’ve become. US could still possibly economically diminish China but very true don’t see anyone really heading that way with Trump at the help as everyone is saying.
Like it or not, ultimately there is nothing to stop China. Obama started to contain the country by a number of trade deals that aimed to isolate China. Trump has undone that and maneuvered the US into a position of weakness just like he did with the Taliban, NK and Iran by some silly and vain posturing.
I think it's a mistake to try and isolate China. China should get developed nation status and fully integrate in the global economy. However, there should be a tit for tat; ie., any market limitations imposed on foreign companies in China should automatically result in similar market limitations for Chinese companies abroad. If it wasn't for Trump's unilateralism, there could be a broad coalition of countries rallying behind such measures.
I think we have seen peak-neoliberalism. In Europe and elsewhere, there is the feeling that there are limits to deregulation and privatization and that the state should take a greater role in the economy. Even if we don't go as far as the state-directed economy typical of China, there may be a middle ground where both can meet. Let's not forget, China is by no means unique in this respect. In Asia, the governments of Japan, Korea, Taiwan, etc., all have used industrial policies that function much like China's state-directed economy for building national champions. By using similar policies we can level the playing field by removing the unfair advantages China currently enjoys over market economies.
The Chinese are not invincible super-humans. We can compete with them if we drop the ideological blinkers and apply the right measures. Even if they enjoy certain advantages, they also have problems like corruption that will prove to be an obstacle in their ability to compete.
Anyways, the US-China rivalry can only have negative consequences.