From the International Herald Tribune:
China is the economic equivalent of sex – it sells. If you want headlines and investors calling for prospectuses, stick the word “China” in the name of your company or product. It’s not unlike the rush to attach “.com” to the end of anything five years ago.
China’s 9 percent economic growth rate – compared with about 1 percent in Japan – should be alarming enough for officials in Tokyo.
Also from the ABC-CBN News:
For many China watchers, China’s growing economic clout will confound the economic, financial and cultural trends in Asia. China could either be a major positive force providing Asia’s economy income and investment growth in the long-term.
Indeed, China’s phenomenal economic growth during the past 25 years has led many observers to speculate on its new geopolitical role in Asia. Moreover, looking beyond repercussions of the 1997 financial crisis, the September 11 attack on America and the recession of 2001, there are major strategic issues in East Asia.
The questions are whether those countries that were affected by the 1997 crisis and the 2001 recession have reformed sufficiently? Would China’s competitiveness delay or stand in the way of economic growth among her Asian neighbors? And of course how China and the rest of Asia will react to America’s unilateral policy. Above all, how will other Asians respond to Japan’s new defense outline, which names China and North Korea as major threats to Japan?
