China's mind-boggling development

The keynote address by Dr. Wickrema Weerasooria (Founder/President of the Sri Lanka China Society) at the celebrations of the Golden jubilee of diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and China which was held on May 11 at the BMICH.

"As for today's talk, rather than talk about the past and how the close ties between our two countries developed from the Rubber for Rice Pact of 1952, the gift of the BMICH (in which we meet today) and also the gift of the Superior Court Complex in Hulftsdorp, I decided to share with you my own thoughts as to why China is so important and why as Sri Lankans we should be with China more than ever before. The theme of my short talk is 'How China is Restructuring the Global Economy.'

"As we all know, historically China faced many problems. But over the years they overcame all of their problems to achieve its current global recognition. That alone is an achievement.

That China succeeded rather than failed. A huge country with the world's largest population, China had serious divisions within the country with warlords ruling different parts of the country. Then came the Colonial powers - especially England, which encouraged the opium trade in China and in a literary sense put China to sleep.

It was in that context that the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte when he was asked in 1801 to send a French expedition to China made the famous remark 'Let China sleep, for when it awakens the world will tremble.' That sleeping giant is now fully woken and China now bestrides the world like a colossus.

"For many years, with a centrally planned economy, China has emerged as one of the most open market economies with highly liberated free trade policies offering attractive markets for multinational companies to both manufacture and market their goods.

As a global player China now dominates Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) even leaving India - the other Asian giant. China is today the largest global recipient of FDI's China is also referred to as the mother of emerging markets and transition economics.

"As a former diplomat, I always used to say that Sri Lanka lies like a teardrop beneath the vast sub-continent of India and the Sri Lanka's destiny lies with India. We are now sandwiched between two giants in size and power - both India and China.

By ethnicity, by religion, by culture and geographic proximity (the distance of Colombo Fort to Moratuwa is the distance to India) we will and must have the closest ties with India but today we cannot neglect to build stronger ties with China. Myself and some others in this audience may not live to see it but it is certain and not a mere soothsayer's predication, that China's economy will be larger than that of the United States by the year 2035.

"I now highlights some important facts about China which should make all Sri Lankans look towards it.

* China is a nuclear power and has military strength to equal the United States or Russia. However, unlike the United States, it has not assumed the role of a global policeman. It does not engage its armies in other people's lands. Nor is China targeted and living in fear of international terrorism.

* China's huge human capital - the largest population in the world (1.3 billion) is equipped with excellent education with an emphasis on English and Technology. As a Chinese leader recently said 'our 1st priority is English; our 2nd priority is English, our 3rd priority is English' While the foreigners try to learn Mandarin, the Chinese learn English.

Also, China emphasises kindergarten education and in a way treat the kindergarten as important as the University The child is moulded in the formative years.

* China is establishing 25,000 technology or science parks (Zones). (Sri Lanka does not have even one!) China wants to be the World's laboratory for technological development.

* Research and Development (R&D) is given the largest investment in China. Just to give one example of profiting by R&D, 80% of the world's consumer electronic goods are now made in China. Nokia the leader in mobile telephones now does 40% of its global R&D in Beijing.

* Each year China produces twentyfour million University students and six million graduates. They are all in their 20's they are hungry and willing to learn more and want to work very hard even at low wages. Nowhere else in the world will you get this combination.

In five years there will be over thirty million Chinese University graduates (with an English knowledge) ready to work even for any foreign multinational company!

* China has maintained a steady economic growth rate of 9% while in four regions what is called China's gold coast, the growth rate has gone upto 13%.

This phenomenal economic growth is primarily due to a combination of exports, unbelievable spending on infrastructure and market liberalisation which was recognised by China's entry to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2001. And remember they also won the right to host the next World Olympics in 2008. We should book our tickets now. It will be a sell-out.

* China is also developing one-hundred and fifty new cities created in the countryside with a population of one million each per city. As a balancing act to manage their 1.3 billion people, China is fast developing a unique middle class - not seen in other countries. An entrepreneurial middle class, owning their own departments and modern amenities like the motor car, the TV and refrigerator.

* Chinese companies are looking for 'overseas footprints' and will globalise organically. They are also pursuing joint ventures, strategic partnerships and mergers and acquisitions to accelerate their global presence. There is an excellent report on China's globalisation jointly done by IBM's Institute for Business Value and China's Fudan University.

* China is now looking to mineral rich developing countries in Latin America and Africa, and the Chinese leaders are criss-crossing the globe faster and more often than Western leaders. China is truly playing a global game. "Over the 26 years since we founded the Sri Lanka-China Society, a mind boggling transformation has taken place in China. They no longer talk of President Mao's words that 'political power comes out of the barrel of a gun.'

Tiananmen Square of 1989 is also now forgotten. The reforms of former President Deng and Premier Li Peng are being carried forward. In that context, we look forward to closer ties between our two societies.