CHINA MAYBE THE TIGER

2010-02-18

WE better watch out with glee or with fear with the advent of the Year of the Tiger. China is set to assume the No.2 economic position in the world surpassing Japan.

With fresh teeth out of new free trade agreements with ASEAN, India, Europe, etc. and with the hosting of the World Expo beginning this May in Shanghai and of the Asian Games in Guangzhou this November, China will have arrived by end of this year as 2nd only to the USA.

Shall we be afraid or be glad? Well, China is a neighbor and many top businessmen in Asean are of Chinese roots. We may fear the influx of Chinese products with no duty and taxes or we rejoice because we can have unlimited access to their markets with the same duty free privileges, Competition is both healthy and bad. The only way is to deal with caution and enthusiasm and vigor like a tiger too.

Afterall, a big tiger and small tiger are just the same. They are supposed to protect each other when confronted by another kind. So, we might as well take advantage of this momentum instead of being taken advantage of.