Must-read article by The Christian Science Monitor’s Beijing correspondent, Peter Ford. The article is entitled, “Rise of an economic superpower: What does China want?” I liked the article because it does a very good job explaining where China fits in the world right now, where it sees itself fitting, and where it is going. I particularly liked how it concludes that China’s future role is uncertain and how it does not jump on the “China will rule the world” bandwagon. The article rightly concludes that China, right now at least, has very little influence in the world beyond economics and even that mostly stems from its internal growth, not from Chinese multinationals, of which there are hardly any.
It also contained a quote that is very relevant for business:
Nor, frankly, do foreign affairs seem to figure very high on Chinese leaders’ agendas. “International questions are an afterthought,” says Francois Godement, founder of the Asia Centre, a Paris-based think tank. Instead, for a Communist Party whose overriding priority is to stay in power, domestic problems threatening social stability at home are infinitely more important.
This is absolutely true.
Far too often when my firm’s clients have problems in China or hit roadblocks, they start talking in terms of how we should be pressuring the Chinese government because what they are doing is “not going to make it look good in the world.” My response is usually something pretty blunt, along the lines of, “China does not really care very much about how it looks in the world; It’s most important constituency is its own citizens and by keeping you out of X, Y and Z, it is looking pretty good to them right now.”
What do you think?
