Posted on 27-11-2002
China
Conquers, World Pays
by Alan Marston
The history books are full of Kings, Queens, Emperors, Princes,
Presidents,
etc. and the military actions they employed and still employ.
However, it
is money that has written history ever since money got a name.
Politics and
wars are symptoms, not causes.
The latest power to use a cheap, in money terms, resource to
undercut and
demolish all commercial competitors on a global scale is China,
with its
almost limitless `labour supply'. The term labour in reference
to China
today is however quite inaccurate when used in the normal palance
of a
Westerner, slavery is much closer to the reality. Sure, a slave
with work
and a source of food is better off than an unemployed slave,
nevertheless,
slavery by any other name is just as nauseating, and impossible
to compete
against.
The Chinese political system has evolved much, in form, but
in content the
dynastic model pertains to this day, as will be alluded to below.
The
commerce too has taken on modern forms, but the orgins of the
term `chinese
wall' (something you can't see but which nevertheless blocks
your way) are
pretty obvious when the chinese economy is given even a perfunctory
examination. Lets simply look at the currency(s) used in China
these days,
by way of example.
The Chinese currency is called renminbi. One yuan is worth 10
jiao or 100
fen. So 1 jiao is worth 10 fen. All units are in the form of
banknotes.
There are 1, 2, 5, 10, 50 and 100 yuan notes, 1, 2 and 5 jiao
notes, and 1
2, and 5 fen notes. There are also fen coins in 1, 2 and 5 fens.
The
standard Chinese currency, Renminbi (RMB), is not readily convertible.
China has, effectively a second currency called Foreign Exchange
Certificates (FEC), it too is denominated in yuan, jiao and
fen. As its
name suggests, it can be exchanged for foreign currency. When
visitors
change cash or travelers cheques, they will be given FECs. When
visitors
leave China, banks only accept FECs. In short, China has two
parallel
currency universes, an internal one used only by the chinese
themselves and
an external one used exclusively when dealing with any other
country's
currency. There's no chance of foreigners influencing the internal
currency
of China and there is no chance of internal business in China
affecting its
foreign commerce and trade. The Great Wall philosophy and practice
lives on.
Not convinced China has got an unbeatable advantage in the modern
`global
economy'? Consider this then. In China few pay rent for land
or buildings +
labour laws are loose and not enforced anyway so rates can be
as low as
$NZ25 cents per hour + electricity, food, water etc are subsidised
by a
State that still owns a predominant part of natural and commercial
assets
and insulates them using a domestic currency + copywright laws
are
ineffective in China allowing Chinese `entrepreneurs' to imitate
any
product found on shop shelves outside China without paying any
research and
development costs. The above add up to the flooding by Chinese
produced
goods of any market that is deserted by governments and thus
ruled by cheap
prices alone. Its a formula for commercial imperialism, whatever
the name
given to it by those few who profit.
New Zealand is a classic example of a country whose political
leaders
removed all the defenses against commercial imperialism and
it demonstrates
the effects of being colonised: unemployment, money fever, poverty,
loss of
quality, social breakdown, cultural degradation, intellectual
dishonesty...
not one plus.
Meanwhile, the life under the latest Asian Dragon has improved,
from an
alltime low in the 1970's to just low. China is in many ways
freer than it
has ever been, and it's easy to be dazzled by the cellphones
and
skyscrapers. But alongside all that sparkles is the old police
state.
Particularly in remote areas police can arrest people and torture
or kill
them with impunity, even if they are trying to do nothing more
than worship
some other God than the Yuan. Secret Communist Party documents
just
published in a book, "China's New Rulers," underscore the grip
of the
police. The party documents say approvingly that 60,000 Chinese
were
killed, either executed or shot by police while fleeing, between
1998 and
2001. That amounts to 15,000 a year, which suggests that 97
percent of the
world's executions take place in China. After all, execution
is much
cheaper than imprisonment.
While businessmen and women swarm into China looking for cash
the vast
majority of people of whatever nationality or socio-economic
status will
continue to experience the dreadful side-effects of this latest
incarnation
of greed and global ambitions.
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