Project Petaling Street Blog

To most Malaysian, the issue of the rising China economy is not new. Gone are the days of rigid communism, they have liberalized the trading restrictions, giving rise to a tidal wave of consumerism, capitalism both within the country and internationally.

Suddenly China is now the biggest consumer market for clothes, handphones, cars, household products and PCs. Not only that, suddenly the all the industrialized nations want to step up trade with them. Soon, Chinese youths will replace their Japanese and South Korean counterparts as the new hip trendsetters for that all important teenage consumer market. What they do or wear or listen to, millions of other kids across America, Southeast Asia and Europe will follow suit.

Many Malaysian parents of all races I meet are thinking of sending their kids, to Chinese national schools. How ironic, in my father's time, English missionary schools were the most sought after choice, then it was the Malay-medium national schools. Now in the shadow of the behemoth that is the China economy, parents are rethinking their children's future.

But in this case, education hardly the main issue. The bigger dilemma is how Malaysia is going to deal with the rising threat of the monstrous economy. Already Singapore is fretting about multi-national corporations moving office from the island to mainland China. As for us, it will be a matter of time when foreign manufacturers and electronic corporations see China as a cheaper alternative. Then US corporations will start outsourcing IT jobs to China (not to mention India).

Already the world is taking notice of Chinese companies in the news recently, like Lenovo's purchase of IBM's PC division, Alibaba's Taobao.com taking on eBay in China, and more recently, the spectacular debut of Baidu on NASDAQ.

This is only the tip of the iceberg. China in the new millennium will be even mightier than Japan in the 80's. But for the man on the street back here in Malaysia, what steps is our government taking in light of this? Is there a long term plan to protect our job market, GDP and precious? Will Malaysia cease to a significant factor in international trade? We have already seen our government taking some steps towards addressing the issue, I think the financial wizards at the EPU have long foreseen this concern. But Malaysians, along with the rest of the world, can only watch with uneasiness.

For further reading, you can check the following excellent articles:

Threat of China's rising market:
China: Constructive Partner or Emerging Threat?
The Economic Rise of China: Threat or Opportunity?
Domestic Threats to China's Rise
Southeast Asia-China: Threats, opportunities

The booming Chinese consumer market:
China's Red-Hot Consumer Market
China's Consumer Market Continues to Improve
The emergence of consumer power in China