Competing with China should in fact, be the top headache of Asean trade officials. As the chief economist of ING Barings in Hong Kong puts it in an interview with Far East Economic Review, "China is the world’s lowest cost producer of everything." All that China needs now is a ready export market and AFTA will dutifully provide that, thank you.
While we are at it, why not let South Korea, Taiwan and Japan in. At least in the case of these countries, they have been investing in Asean for decades. They have also given some amount of development assistance to the region. China has not really invested much in the region. On the contrary, it has taken an aggressive stance on such matters as commercial fishing rights in the Spratleys. And don’t forget, they have exported a lot of shabu into this country.
As it is, ASEAN countries are losing heavily to China in terms of investments. China is attracting the dragon’s share of whatever little investment there is available, away from ASEAN. Even investors already established in ASEAN countries are packing up and moving to China. I understand that PAL’s flights to Shanghai and Xiamen are always booked solid, better than their US West Coast flights these days. It is safe to assume that our Binondo taipans are not filling up those planes as tourists.
In fairness to the Arroyo administration, they have not committed to the idea of including China in AFTA. Trade and Industry Secretary Mar Roxas carefully explained to Nancy Irlanda of the ABS-CBN News Channel last week that the proposal was just that, still a proposal. Secretary Roxas admitted it requires exhaustive study before we can make a country position. Contrary to the news dispatches from Brunei, this is not even a priority in the agenda. But it makes for exciting headlines.
Actually, when China becomes a member of the WTO this month, it may not even need the special consideration of AFTA anymore. All the Asean countries will start feeling the stiff competition from China in markets that are traditionally theirs. And China should be able to freely enter the market of each of the ASEAN countries as a WTO member country.
The bottom line is, we have to stop talking about competitiveness and start doing something to be competitive. I have yet to hear our economic leaders identify the areas where we have competitive advantage and a program to exploit the potentials of these areas. I know they will talk about this in the economic summit. I was just thinking if we still do not have a strategy and must still work out a consensus at this late date on how to address the economic crisis, Heaven help us!
The paper also highlights something we also already know and have been talking about for years, the need for social safety nets in place. "The right national economic and social policies and institutions," the study says, must "be in place so as to maximize the impact of trade liberalization on employment creation, including labor market policies, social protection and social dialogue."
The surprising revelation, as far as I was concerned, is the portion of the paper that says the Philippines is among the countries that have cornered the benefits of globalization. In fact, "increased manufacturing exports were concentrated in just 13 countries and regions. The economies of Argentina, Brazil, China, Hong Kong (China), India, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Taiwan (China) and Thailand saw their share of world manufactured exports rise from nine percent in 1980 to 22 percent by the mid-1990s."
On the other hand, "another 10 developing countries – Bangladesh, Egypt, Malta, Mauritius, Morocco, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tunisia and Turkey – also experienced an increase in their share of world manufactured exports, but by a smaller margin. In contrast, the rest of the developing world (excluding the oil exporting countries in the Middle East) "saw their collective share of world merchandize trade decline from four percent during 1980-82 to three percent in 1996-98."
So jump up with glee like chimpanzees in heat. We belong to the first group of developing countries that benefited from globalization. It is difficult to believe we have been that blessed. If this is good, I hate to imagine bad. So I will imagine how things could have been if our government did what it had to do with more political will.
I cannot imagine anyone could harm such a nice soft spoken woman. The thought is enough to scare me from venturing out in our streets. If it isn’t safe for a gentle lady like Nida in a supposedly guarded parking lot in a high class community like Greenhills, who is still safe? And where?
I will miss Nida’s ready smile as she greets me and her other neighbors at the chapel every Sunday. Every now and then she and I would take turns reading from the Scriptures. Then she would shepherd the collection basket around. No one would suspect she is a superstar.
There are many celebrities, specially from showbiz, who live in White Plains but it is only Nida who we see regularly mixing around with the rest of the community. The best thing about Nida is that unlike the other showbiz celebrities, she had the good sense not to enter politics. Our community will miss this extraordinary lady.
To Nida’s family, I think I can speak for the White Plains community in saying we will miss her and we deeply share their sorrow. Our only consolation now is we have an advocate up there ready to speak on our behalf. May the Lord protect the rest of us she left behind in this troubled land.
Diplomacy is the art of saying ‘Nice doggie!’... till you can find a rock.
(Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@bayantel.com.ph)