Report on Workshop "The rapid industrialization of China and India: Domestic and International Consequences"
Workshop
"The rapid industrialization of China and India: Domestic and International Consequences"
at the University of Antwerp, March, 31 - April, 1, 2006.
The idea behind this workshop was to deal with the threat of the rapid industrialisation of China and India for developing countries. China's and India's emergence as world players in the global economy has important implications for them. The organizers had chosen the right topic at the right moment. While Europe is protecting its textile and leather sector for Chinese imports, African and Latin American countries suffer even more. Some case studies dealt with these issues, like the ones presented on Ethiopia and Portugal for example (Tegegne Egziabher and Willem van Winden respectively) and one case study on the impact of China on mergers (Alfredo Coelho). There were also a number of conceptual papers. Hubert Schmitz (IDS Sussex) presented a research project on Asian drivers and referred to the January 2006 issue of the IDS Bulletin which discusses the Asian drivers, opportunities and threats. Tilman Altenburg (GDI) also presented a more conceptual paper on building knowledge based competitive advantages, the lessons from India and China. Finally, Rhys Jenkins (University of East Anglia) presented a research project on the same topic. He distinguished four types of direct impacts for developing countries. In the first place increased competition from China in their home market. Secondly competition from Chinese exports in third markets. But also the flow of foreign direct investment is influenced by China’s popularity as a destination. Finally, a positive impact for developing countries is their ability to export more to China, although mainly raw materials.
The other papers presented in Antwerpen concerned India (4), China (4) or compared China and India (4). The papers on India concerned India’s development strategy (Meera Tiwari), the software sector in Bangalore (Chaminade and Vang), the determinants of India’s export (M. Tharakan and T. van Ourti) and the response of India to globalisation (Jorgen Pedersen). China papers concerned the reform process behind the current success (M.P. van Dijk), the pharmaceutical industry (Haiyan Zhang and Filip De Beule), determinants of Chinese outward investments (H. Voss and J. Clegg) and the Chinese energy sector (David Durkee).
The comparison between the two countries focused on change agents (Daniel Van den Bulcke), the role of China and India for Africa (Mike Chen), regional differences in foreign direct investment (N.S. Siddharthan) and factors explaining locational choices in both countries (Kala Seetharam).
The presentations were interesting and gave a good impression of the magnitude of the problem. One of the conclusions of this workshop was that it would be good to organize such workshops annually to monitor the developments. A theme suggested for the next meeting was dissident’s points of view on China’s development, a topic hardly discussed in Antwerpen. The idea is that the Chinese success story will end some day, but is it because of the environment, corruption, labour unrest or the development of the internal market after a revaluation of the renminbi? There is certainly a need for more case studies on the impact of China and India’s rapid industrialisation for other countries and the analytical frameworks presented can be used for that purpose. The organisers deserve our gratitude (Filip De Beule, Haiyan Zhang and Daniel Van den Bulcke of the Institute of Development Policy and Management and University of Antwerp Management School), and the EADI working groups on “Industrialisation Strategies” and “Transnational Corporations”.
Meine Pieter van Dijk, convenor of the EADI working group on Industrialisation strategies
m.vandijk(AT)unesco-ihe.org
