Tweet
Centre of the world economy is due east
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
The centre of gravity of the world economy is shifting from the Western powers of North America and Western Europe to the East Asian economies.
This emergence started with Japan and gathered momentum with the so called "Asian Tigers" and now the enormity of China. Over the last decade, China has been the fastest growing economy in the world.
History has come full circle from the 15th century when China dominated the world economy in scale and technology. China's relative decline both reflects the rise of Europe on the backs of bullions from the Americas and slaves from Africa, as well as its self-imposed isolation from the world economy.
In the early 19th century, China accounted for 36% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the world before beginning the "Century of Humiliation" with the nadir at 5% in 1950.
China with a population of 1.3 billion is forecasted to become the world's largest economy in 30 years. The rise towards economic dominance together with its enormous military prowess ranging from nuclear weapons to the largest army in the world, will ensure that China's influence and power in international politics will increase dramatically. The Beijing Olympics is the showpiece of a confident superpower.
The re-emergence of China will be a tectonic shift that will re-shape the prevailing global power structure, ushering in a new phase of multipolarity. A more vibrant China-Caricom may inject some energy into traditional allies whose residual interests have led to what many in the region regard as neglect or a scaled down engagement.
China has recognised that Jamaica by size, geography and foreign policy is the natural gateway to Caricom. This is only a part of Jamaica's comparative advantage in trade with China. An ethnic business community with commercial and family connections is an asset. A people with a deep respect for history, the Chinese will remember that Jamaican volunteers fought with them against the Japanese.
Opportunities abound for the Caribbean to export to a vast market, to invest in production facilities, to source products for global markets and the world's fastest growing tourism market.
China is also a major source of foreign investment, highly skilled human resources and technology appropriate to developing countries. China is rapidly becoming one of the largest providers of development assistance to which Caricom seems addicted.
The opportunistic rush to embrace Taiwan by some Caricom states is indicative of deep seated unwillingness to be weaned from the dispensations of the US, UK and EU. This short-sighted avarice is at the expense of the possibility of exporting to a country that is destined to be the largest market in the world within a decade.
Our foreign policy is overly focused on Europe and North America as is evident in the current deployment of our diplomatic missions. If Jamaica is to capitalise on these natural and man made advantages, it must expand its diplomatic, tourism and JTI deployment.
It must mount trade missions led at the ministerial level. Vice President Zheng Qinhong led a delegation of economic cooperation and trade officials to the China-Caribbean Trade Fair in Jamaica. A visit by Prime Minister Bruce Golding would set in motion the enhancement of the economic relationship. "Go West, young man, and grow up the country" is a famous quote from an 1851 Terre Haute Express editorial by Mr John B L Soule. Today, our editorial offers the advice: "Go East, young man, and grow up the world economy."
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
The centre of gravity of the world economy is shifting from the Western powers of North America and Western Europe to the East Asian economies.
This emergence started with Japan and gathered momentum with the so called "Asian Tigers" and now the enormity of China. Over the last decade, China has been the fastest growing economy in the world.
History has come full circle from the 15th century when China dominated the world economy in scale and technology. China's relative decline both reflects the rise of Europe on the backs of bullions from the Americas and slaves from Africa, as well as its self-imposed isolation from the world economy.
In the early 19th century, China accounted for 36% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the world before beginning the "Century of Humiliation" with the nadir at 5% in 1950.
China with a population of 1.3 billion is forecasted to become the world's largest economy in 30 years. The rise towards economic dominance together with its enormous military prowess ranging from nuclear weapons to the largest army in the world, will ensure that China's influence and power in international politics will increase dramatically. The Beijing Olympics is the showpiece of a confident superpower.
The re-emergence of China will be a tectonic shift that will re-shape the prevailing global power structure, ushering in a new phase of multipolarity. A more vibrant China-Caricom may inject some energy into traditional allies whose residual interests have led to what many in the region regard as neglect or a scaled down engagement.
China has recognised that Jamaica by size, geography and foreign policy is the natural gateway to Caricom. This is only a part of Jamaica's comparative advantage in trade with China. An ethnic business community with commercial and family connections is an asset. A people with a deep respect for history, the Chinese will remember that Jamaican volunteers fought with them against the Japanese.
Opportunities abound for the Caribbean to export to a vast market, to invest in production facilities, to source products for global markets and the world's fastest growing tourism market.
China is also a major source of foreign investment, highly skilled human resources and technology appropriate to developing countries. China is rapidly becoming one of the largest providers of development assistance to which Caricom seems addicted.
The opportunistic rush to embrace Taiwan by some Caricom states is indicative of deep seated unwillingness to be weaned from the dispensations of the US, UK and EU. This short-sighted avarice is at the expense of the possibility of exporting to a country that is destined to be the largest market in the world within a decade.
Our foreign policy is overly focused on Europe and North America as is evident in the current deployment of our diplomatic missions. If Jamaica is to capitalise on these natural and man made advantages, it must expand its diplomatic, tourism and JTI deployment.
It must mount trade missions led at the ministerial level. Vice President Zheng Qinhong led a delegation of economic cooperation and trade officials to the China-Caribbean Trade Fair in Jamaica. A visit by Prime Minister Bruce Golding would set in motion the enhancement of the economic relationship. "Go West, young man, and grow up the country" is a famous quote from an 1851 Terre Haute Express editorial by Mr John B L Soule. Today, our editorial offers the advice: "Go East, young man, and grow up the world economy."
Comment