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Communism & China
The
Rise of China
Continues
by
John C. Walsh
The rise of China continues to be one of the more
notable phenomena of Southeast Asian life. It manifests itself in many
of ways, some of them surprising and some rather more predictable. A
Haier showroom has just opened in the office building in which I am
writing this and the company’s products, designed and manufactured in
the mainland, are being marketed as sleek, modern and stylish objects.
Haier is following the footsteps of Korean companies which, a decade
ago, were transforming themselves from OEM outfits to leading
design-oriented consumer goods companies. So far we have not seen
Chinese television programmes or pop songs to contend with the now
seemingly ubiquitous Korean and Japanese pop and soap operas but it is,
presumably, on a matter of time before that starts to happen.
In terms of the predictable emergence of China, the physical
infrastructure of the region is being changed just as much as the trade
and economics infrastructure by which the people of the area will live.
One dozen or more dams are planned for the River Salween, in addition
to those that will be applied to the Mekong. The Nu, as the Salween is
known to the Chinese, passes through the province of Yunnan as well as
Tibet and witnesses on its banks many of the more exotic and precious
wildlife of the country, not to mention many ethnic minority groups
with designated, official status. Recent reports show that most of the
people of these groups have little if any information about the new
dams nor what impact they may have on their lives. Just as in Burma to
the south, it is possible that people will have to move away from their
homes and take up different types of occupation from those to which
they are used. Human resettlement of this sort often leads to a variety
of social problems, not least of which is the production of
dysfunctional families. The benefits of the dams will flow to people
from outside the area, who will use the hydroelectricity produced or
else reap the benefits of the trade opportunities created. The local
people, removed from the elite decision-making centres by virtue of
language, culture and the structures of society, will benefit very
little from the changes and may indeed suffer from them.
The roads built joining Yunnan Province with Thailand, traveling via
Laos, also bring fruit and vegetables straight to the many supermarkets
of Bangkok and the other large urban centres of the Kingdom. Now
flowers too are arriving in great numbers, overpowering in terms of
numbers and quality those from Fang, the traditional home of Thai
flowers where the people are said to grow roses bigger than apples.
This is the result of the Free Trade Agreement between China and
Thailand and the provision of transportation infrastructure. It is good
for the people of Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan Province, who
specialise in flower-growing and it is good too for the consumers of
Thailand, insofar as the middle classes can now buy and enjoy flowers
they would not have had access to before. Yet the people of Fang now
must search for different ways to make a living. Research has shown
repeatedly that when the main source of income disappears from a region
that a number of people will resort to risk-taking behaviour (e.g.
theft, prostitution) in order to find different ways to maintain their
lifestyles. There is a real need for well-focused and well-informed
government interventions to make sure that these negative effects are
mitigated by new opportunities for social and economic advancement of
the people affected.
References
and Further Reading
“Chinese
Flower Power Hits Thais,” Asia Times Online (August, 2006), downloaded
from: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/HH01Ad01.html.
Thomas,
Rudy, “Eyewitness on the Salween,” Irrawaddy Online (August, 2006), downloaded from: http://www.irrawaddy.org/aviewer.asp?a=6024&z=102.
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