Abstract
Two centuries ago, Asia delivered over 60% of world production; in the middle of the twentieth century, it was less than 20%. Currently, it is twice as large and this share is still increasing, above all but not only, because of China whose production is still growing at a rate twice as fast as the world average. China is trying to maintain high economic dynamics, inter alia, through investment external expansion. This aim is to be served, among others, by the infrastructure project, drawn up with enormous verve, known as the Belt and Road Initiative, BRI, or the New Silk Road, which the Middle Kingdom addresses to over 70 countries. While some hope for accelerating their own economic growth, others warn against the risk of becoming dependent on China. The article analyzes these challenges, pointing to the desired directions of irreversible evolution globalization by giving it a more inclusive character, which is also strongly emphasized by the Chinese authorities in their official enunciations.
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Notes
- 1.
The population of the Middle East is estimated at around 450 million, if we include in this part of the world also African Egypt with 97 million inhabitants (geographically Asian Sinai has around 1.4 million inhabitants) and Cyprus with only 1.2 million people. Without these two countries, the Middle East—geographically located in Asia in its entirety, apart from the small, 23 764 km2 European fragment of Turkey—it is home to about 350 million people. This is the total number of the inhabitants of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Yemen, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Syria, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
- 2.
The member countries of ASEAN, Association of Southeast Asian Nations are: Brunei, Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. This grouping is inhabited by about 650 million people (8.7 percent of all mankind) and produces around 10.5 global gross product (counting per purchasing power parity, PPP).
- 3.
SAARC member countries, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) contains: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. These countries are inhabited by about one billion 770 million people (almost 24 percent of all mankind), who produce about 13.7 percent of the world’s gross product (counting per PPP).
- 4.
Other countries with a population exceeding 100 million are, in the order of population size, the USA (327 million), Brazil (208), Nigeria (191), Russia (143), Mexico (125) and Ethiopia (196). Soon, this group of non-Asian countries with similarly numerous population will be joined by Egypt.
- 5.
Similar processes take place in other parts of the world, also in post-socialist Eastern European economies, the most developed of which can compete to an increasingly smaller extent with low wages. For example, in Poland in December 2017, the average gross monthly wage in the enterprise sector fluctuated around 1450 dollars, calculated at the current exchange rate, which at that time was subject to strong appreciation. These data refer to companies employing more than nine employees, so for the entire economy the appropriate amount may be even several hundred dollars lower.
- 6.
This is another paradox, but it is the pressure of the West, especially the so-called Big Three, i.e. the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, that Greece should improve its fiscal situation also by privatising state property, prompted the government in Athens to sell the port of Piraeus. The investor turned out to be China COSCO Shipping Corporation.
- 7.
S&P 500 is a stock exchange index managed by Standard &Poor’s, the value of which is determined by the quotations on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ 500, the largest from the point of view of capitalisation of enterprises, mainly American ones.
- 8.
The article was based on excerpts from the book “Czy Chiny zbawią świat?”, (Will China Save the World?) Prószyński i S-ka Publishing House, Warsaw, 2018.
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Kolodko, G.W. (2023). China and the Rebalancing of Globalisation. In: Wang, L. (eds) China's Development and the Construction of the Community with a Shared Future for Mankind. Research Series on the Chinese Dream and China’s Development Path. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-7423-6_79
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