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.