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Beijing and Asean need to discuss ‘Second China Shock’
The region’s manufacturers could get muscled out of the market by a flood of Chinese products.
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China’s latest manufacturing surge, which some have begun to call the Second China Shock, may sound ominous as a label but is actually a tip of the hat to the mainland.
PHOTO: AFP
More than two decades ago, when China initiated the Early Harvest Programme with Asean to give South-east Asian countries more confidence to endorse the Asean-China Free Trade Area, then Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji told leaders from this region that a decade hence, if they found the free trade deal was not working for them, they could come back and discuss their concerns with the Chinese leadership.
Given the flood of Chinese exports that’s threatening to deindustrialise South-east Asia’s auto, textiles, leather – and a host of other sectors vital to employment and social stability – the moment to redeem Mr Zhu’s promise has come.
