China's growth augurs well: Singapore

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, FEB. 28. Presenting the Budget for 2000 the other day, the Singapore Finance Minister, Dr. Richard Hu, said that ``the Asian economic crisis is largely behind us (the City-State).''

Describing 1999 as ``a year of remarkable economic turnaround'' for Singapore, the Minister pointed out that the overall growth in that year was ``a respectable 5.4 per cent,'' with the economy having contracted by 1.6 per cent in the second half of 1998.

Beyond the fiscal measures, a point of considerable interest to the larger international community as seen from a political perspective was Singapore's perception of the negative and positive consequences of the current rise of China as an economic power. The challenge for countries such as Singapore was to ``ride on the rise of China''.

Dr. Hu said: ``In post-crisis Asia, one economy that will bring profound changes to the competitive equation (in the region) is China. Even without World Trade Organisation (WTO) membership, China has been attracting more foreign direct investments (FDI) than the rest of Asia combined. With its impending WTO accession and the ongoing reforms of its state- owned enterprises, China can be expected to become even more competitive both as an exporter as well as FDI destination.

Moreover, China's exports are no longer confined to low-value- added or labour-intensive products.''

But, Dr. Hu said, ``China's rise is not all negative for the other Asian economies'' because ``global trade is never a zero- sum game.'' As for the ``tremendous opportunities'' that China's rise might offer the others, he said that ``with the liberalisation of China's tariff regime, ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) economies can function more effectively as production bases and export gateways to China's markets.''

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Section  : International
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