Mish, here is my 2 cents<g>:
The trade bet. Japan and China may have peaked IMO. EU already replaced Japan as China’s #1 trading partner, and Japan became China’s #3 trading partner after the US in 2004. I will not be surprised if S. Korea replaces Japan in 2005. Besides the capacity shortage within Japan the article has mentioned, higher raw material cost will become a factor. I read that Japan has been negotiating the iron ore price for 2005 with Brazilian and Australian miners but broke down a couple of times due to the miners insisting on 50% of increase in price;
The tension bet. China and Japan will get worse before it gets better. Chinese gov. has tried all they can to crack down the anti-Japanese feeling/action among Chinese (for Japan, thanks God China does not have a democratic system. Otherwise, they are cooked<g>). And there are more and more Chinese people now start to advocate rejecting Japanese goods, me included<g>.
Japan altogether has 45,000 enterprises outside Japan, 28,000 of them (62%) are in China. It is estimated that they employed 1 million Chinese workers. And more and more of these workers are scientists who work for Japanese R&D centers. So Japanese does not just use Chinese cheap labor, they also are taking advantage of Chinese brain labor, to invent new product with IP right under Japanese companies’ name, on which they can make high margin of profit for the next couple of decades without any additional cost.
There is a new but delightful phenomenon in China, more outstanding young Chinese do not want to work for Japanese companies. “As anti-Japanese sentiment keeps soaring in China through 2004 the position of Japanese companies in Chinese people's mind slides down considerably. Top talents are unwilling to work for Japanese companies. According to a survey in 2004 on foreign companies most sought for by Chinese the highest ranking of Japanese companies is No.17, which belongs to SONY whose ranking in 2003 was No.11. Panasonic dropped from No.23 in 2003 to No.32 in 2004 while Toyota was excluded from the top 50.”
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These following pictures (of rejecting Japanese product) were taken in Shenzhen, on Dec. 12, 2004, a historical day in Chinese history. But the irony is that the DC used was a Canon brand, which reflects the current awkward relations bet. China and Japan.
photo.poco.cn
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The following are some related articles in case you are interested.
Japan mulls ending aid to China
Tokyo, Japan, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- A Japanese government panel is considering how to reduce and ultimately terminate the country's development aid to China, Yomiuri Shimbun reported Tuesday.
washingtontimes.com
China-Japan frictions moving to military field
(People's Daily)
Updated: 2005-01-23 15:59
The year 2005 has just begun and the differences between the two neighboring countries - China and Japan, instead of shrinking, are showing a dangerous sign of gradually moving frictions to the military field.
chinadaily.com.cn
The Japan-China Stew: Sweet and Sour
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
Published: January 19, 2005
nytimes.com |
