One thing that Donald Trump correctly recognised was China’s
gaming of the rest of the World, particularly since the ascent of the current Chinese President. Unlike other leaders, President Trump acted.
In essence, since China came out of its largely self-imposed
isolation, their objective has been to modernise whilst maintaining full
control by the Communist Party. As we
know this has been hugely successful in economic terms, but since the arrival
of President Xi and now President Trump, it has turned sour. Prior to President Xi the Communist Party’s
strategy was to develop economically whilst keeping a low profile
internationally. President Xi has
dispensed with the low profile element and continues to intimidate other countries whilst
providing loans to poor and developing countries under the umbrella of economic
development. Subtle, it is not.
You could say the rest of the World walked into this
situation without realising it. It is unfortunate that Trump’s America is
showing signs of decay whilst other mature democracies are also struggling. This allows China and other autocratic nations
to try and adopt the diplomatic moral high ground.
Interestingly the COVID19 pandemic could be another catalyst
which is potentially negative for China in that many foreign companies now
realise they have too many eggs in the Chinese basket. President Trump’s trade war has fully exposed China
to the World for the first time. So, it’s
not surprising that China has become more high profile.
The Chinese culture is old and totally embedded; it’s
unlikely to change dramatically in the near future. Unfortunately, most governments have allowed
themselves to become too reliant on China; something which was China’s
deliberate policy; call it “Economic Capture”.
But the USA, through being the largest economy in the World, realised
China’s plans were nearing the end-game and pulled the trigger of the trade
war. This is probably Donald Trump’s
most significant policy.
But, many governments are already variably captured by China’s
strategy. It’s easy to identify which
countries this applies too; just see who supports China at the United Nations.
So what can be done?
The most
effective way of countering China's approach is to not buy any products
from them.
Boycott Chinese made products
and services.
How can this be done?
Firstly, governments
need to legislate that any products or services originating from China must be
clearly identified on the product itself and made totally clear in all
advertising plus retail and online market places.
The penalty for not doing this should be a very large fine
plus a ban on the sale of the entire company’s products in the respective country.
You may not be aware of the huge volumes of Chinese products
that Amazon stocks around the World, so as to be able to supply it quickly to consumers.
You may have noticed the somewhat odd names of
sellers on Amazon’s Marketplace?
Invariably these are Chinese retailers or manufacturers trying to be less
obvious. I find it interesting that
Amazon is facilitating the global sale of Chinese products, in order of course, to make money for Amazon.
You can
understand why President Trump is not very enamoured with Jeff Bezos?
Secondly, each and
every one of us should decide whether the money we spend on Chinese products or
services, is acceptable, or not.
It wouldn’t take much to persuade Americans, Canadians &
Europeans to ensure they understand where their consumer items are manufactured
and either reduce or stop buying them.
It should send a powerful message to President Xi if, for
example, America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK and EU all legislated
along these lines. The degree of Economic
Capture should start to unwind plus, foreign companies manufacturing in China for export
will, almost certainly, look at alternative options.
Who knows what would happen, if the average Chinese person gets to understand
that their own government was the ultimate origin of their drop in living
standards, caused by a decline in exports…
