Editor: Al Santoli
July 27
- Countries throughout Asia are worried that China's accession to the WTO could undermine Asia's export-led economic recovery, the Washington Times reports. While less concerned about higher-value industries, Asian leaders worry about China's domination of low-tech export-oriented industries. South Korean experts worry that their country will be flooded with low-priced imports from China that will undercut domestic products. And better access by China to the US will cause South Korea's share of America's market to drop. In addition, the Times adds, countries like the Philippines and Indonesia, that depend on lower-value exports, are extremely vulnerable to China's massive pool of low-wage workers.
July 28
- In Geneva, US trade ambassador Rita Hayes made clear Washington's opposition to efforts by Beijing to enshrine its "one China" policy in the formal entry to the WTO, Reuters reports. Taiwan, the world's 14th largest exporting nation, has already completed its negotiations on joining the WTO, which has 137 members.
The Washington Times reports that child labor is rampant in China, where millions of underage workers endure hazardous conditions while toiling for long hours. Chinese labor laws prohibit the hiring of workers under age 16.
However, a 1996 report by the International Labor Organization [ILO] estimated that the percentage of China's 10 to 14 year-old children who work was over 11 percent, or 13.3 million children. A 1999 report by the Asia Monitor Research Center says many factories forge identity papers for underage workers.
The Times focused on the case of Miss Hu Changjun, who at age 14 was seriously injured at a Beijing food-packaging factory. Miss Hu and other children at the plant worked 16 hour days, 7 days a week, for $38 dollars a month [around 8 cents an hour]. They lived and slept in the factory compound and were barred from stepping outside.
August 4
- Chinese investors have dramatically flocked to the countries' major stock markets but investments are risky because the majority of listed companies are government-owned and many are losing money, the Washington Post reports. The two main domestic exchanges, in Shanghai and Shenzen, have soared to 45 percent growth in 2000, after posting a 21 percent growth in 1999. Their combined market capitalization has reached $520 billion. Some 50 million Chinese have opened stock-trading accounts. Of some 1,000 companies listed, at last 900 are majority-owned by the state. Scores are on the verge of bankruptcy.
Worse, investors must rely on rumors in the absence of reliable financial information because of the lack of rigorous accounting and disclosure rules. Says a Western-trained broker in the Post, "The Chinese communist leaders 'don't have the guts to get serious about restructuring.'" The state -run media often stokes nationalistic sentiments, encouraging investment in state-run firms as a patriotic duty. Economists and many investment analysts warn that China is in the throes of an artificial, government-induced speculative bubble. If the bubble bursts, millions will lose out.
THE AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY COUNCIL
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