SEVERAL DECADES BACK, China was virtually closed to the world as it shunned interaction with Western influence with its Bamboo Curtain at the center of its closed society.
Now China is focusing on its modernization drive for 2020 with trade alliances with the US, Asia and Austral;ia and the rest of Europe.
Its climb to economic supremacy has been thick and fast and now see itself as the No. 2 superpower, if not at the top in the world.
For 2020, China’s drive towards modernization is gaining momentum with high tech industries and manufacturing powering economic growth, this statement coming from a press release obviously from the Chinese PR department.Indeed, China has undergone a massive transformation, from a closed society into a moderately free market as evidenced by the Belt and Silk road initiative and its active albeit controversial trade alliances with the US and other western countries.Still, China is known for its fierce annexation of sovereign territories, foremost of which is part of the South China Sea invoking its nine-dash line.
In a whole-page supplement in the Manila Times dated January 16, 2020, columnist Colin Speakman wrote that China continues to open up and improve opportunities for both imports and foreign investment. As an example, Speakman quotes Shanghai’s free trade zone has been greatly expanded and new free trade zones were added to bring the total to 18.
More provinces in China, such as Hexin which sold more than 300 million yuan (43.3 million US dollars) worth of mass spectrometers and Guangdong which boasts of new industries in computer, communication and electronic manufacturing. Other provinces like Chengdu and Tianfu Hot-pot are also making strides in China’s drive for overall development.
It was reported that innovation is instrumental as China strives for modernization and its people are imbibing and implementing the innovative spirit with a population of almost two billion, it is but natural for China to make great development efforts.
With the entry of massive foreign investments in China, its modernization drive goes on full throthle. Its foreign investment law, enacted on January 1, 2020, will guarantee protection of foreign investors’ interests. Can the Philippines emulate China’s drive for modernization?
* * *On the downside, however,, China’s insistence of a One-China policy blurs the otherwise rosy impression of the global community. Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are three of the Chinese possessions caught in the cross fire.