Power Equipment

Abstract

Power generation equipment is the quintessential capital good. Without electric power, there can be little economic activity. From steel factories to electric hair dryers, electricity is the fundamental source of power. Without a low-cost, low price, reliable power supply, a country’s economy is handicapped in international competition.

To join the WTO China must unilaterally open its markets and agree to play by the same rules as other WTO members … China must make all the concessions, and the United States gets the benefit. As a result the United States stands to gain unprecedented access to China’s markets, while giving up nothing.

(US-China Trade Council, ‘Questions and answers on the US-China WTO Agreement’, 1 December 1999)

China’s power industry is facing a serious competitive threat in both foreign and domestic markets. Only through redoubling its efforts will it be able to create space for itself to exist. China wishes to compete as well as co-operate with foreign manufacturers, aiming to create a new situation of common development, in other words, ‘I have and you have too.’

(Lu Yansun, Deputy Minister of Machine Building, 1989–94; Chairman of the Chinese Power Equipment Manufacturers’ Association, Member of the Financial Committee of the National People’s Congress)