China's Winning Strategy
Cyrus Janssen with Glenn Diesen
I had a conversation with Cyrus Janssen about the misconceptions about China and its economic rise, why China is a leading innovative country, and why the anti-China sanctions will likely fail. There is still an opportunity to make China a partner rather than an adversary.
Cyrus moved to China the same year I did, 2007, but he stayed much longer. I only lasted a few months. The thing that bothered me most about China, as a socialist, is that I saw nothing resembling actual communism in daily life. Working for an English lifestyle magazine, I was frequently assigned to upscale events of the nouveau riche -- openings of luxury condos built upon the expropriated lands of the poor and middle class, for instance. Everywhere I saw ostentatious displays of wealth while children begged on the streets outside luxury hotels. One Chinese tour guide, when the van we were in swerved to miss a child, joked: "It's okay, it's just a farmer's kid," then described the insurance schemes that made drivers pay more when hitting someone from the upper classes. Then there was the very "un-commune" behavior of the pushing and shoving everywhere, and the pickpocketing and getting ripped off for fake goods in department stores. It's what I imagined dystopian USA to be in 50 years, not what the revolutionaries fought for. I will say I loved many other aspects of China, and it was a long time ago, so maybe much has changed. But it made me think that Canada and Europe were much more "communist" than whatever racket was going on there. Still, China deserves a lot of respect for its achievements, and I hope it plays a part in pushing back American hegemony in the coming years, even if that affects where I live now (Taiwan).
Where are the historians and experts on foreign direct investment? Where are the discussions on it? Are they all busy running for office or writing legislative bills? This guy talks fast, but the content is too generalized. He is saying little we do not already know.