Conflict between China and Western (Part II)

Although China was a nation much older than all Western nations, the history of its current great development is much more recent than Western world. At the beginning, the more modern China’s economic policy was based on the direction in which the industrial, agricultural, monetary, and commercial policy took and it was in charge of the government with the assistance of the other powers and Central Committee of the Communist Party. However without a visible change of course, senior political leaders foresaw the need to transform their economy to adapt to the dominant international tendencies.

The inclusion of China as a strategic commercial competitor in the new world order is not a recent social phenomenon, but is the result of more than 35 years of effort for continuous updating, much earlier the fall of Berlin wall and the failure of socialism in the USSR.  By the end of 1978, China’s leaders tried to change its economy based on the Soviet model with centralized planning, although it was oriented to the market it was totally controlled by the Communist Party. In such a way the responsibility of agriculture was transferred to a centralized system instead of the old communist collectivization, the liabilities of directors of industries were increased, the creation of a large number of small and diverse businesses was allowed, and its economy doors were opened wide to foreign investment and foreign trade.

This was the key to development and transformation of the China’s economy, promoting the establishment of economic relationships with other nations. Because these political measures of agricultural production, the production doubled during the 1980’s and the industry of coastal areas near Hong Kong was improved, where technologies had already improved and the production and exports soon were increased, in order that GDP from 1978 tripled. In 1990’s, GDP grew at an average of 10% annually and began to provide jobs to the employment for general population at the same time the state administrative systems were refined.

By the end of 1993, long term reforms were approved in order to improve market laws and have a better financial control through surveillance of main industries, known today as “market socialist economy.” At the same time the government made an effort to keep state enterprises afloat which had not been involved in economic takeoff.

Simultaneously its economy was adapted to global trends, gradually the transformation was carried out by the State, eventually incorporating all productive sectors and without opening suddenly to the international market. As well as, the government brought down the duties a number of liens slowed down the domestic consumption and opened special economic zones in Latin America, EU, and some of the nearby nations.

Among the main reforms to China’s foreign trade include: 1. the expansion of powers of local administrations to asses and ratify exports, promoting management and export autonomy in all foreign trade enterprises. 2. The monopolistic structure of foreign trade was changed, separating the government functions from the business that previously determined such losses and profits of the companies in a unified way. 3. Progressively was created a management system which regulates foreign trade with conventional methods for global use such as custom taxes, exchange rates, and bank credits.

In this way was granted powers to the public domestic administration to support the activities of the foreign trade. This operational system, anyway preserves the features of a socialist government. But, what China named “definitive sectors” of its economy that is industry or field, China preserves 80% of the companies that are part of it.

In the field of energy, the government retains the exclusivity of the ownership and operation of the enterprises that exploits, processes, and distributes those resources. While in light motorcycles, electrical appliances, computers, and minor items industry. China is absolutely open to foreign investment and almost 90% of this sector is private property.

The final result of the economic, political, social, and financial model of the People’s Republic of China is an indecipherable hybrid contains autarchy elements, characteristic of a communist system which seeks an equality across the community, of a capitalist system exerted on certain sectors of the economy, as well as pacifist and protective position of human rights, according to its own culture, where all religious of the past have disappeared and it is aimed to seek the support of science and technology.

Although China and Western are different worlds, right now they seem to have some points of coincidence, as pursuit of essential material goods, certain positive aspects on human behavior and pursuing of the art in all its expressions. Nevertheless, the conflict between these two large social groups cannot be ignored and everything suggests that the deep ethnic, moral, cultural, genetic, and memetics differences continue to unbalance their relationship over the coming years.

By its practice quality and its current awareness, it is possible that China displaces Western world from the first place in the world economy.