The White Peril is an Economist story about foreign investment in China. Some in China are getting uneasy about the amount of industry ending up in the hands of foreign investors.
Among the country's top leaders it is likely that the same logic will prevail as did in the early 1990s when reformists in the party faced a far more serious challenge. At that time the late Deng Xiaoping won the debate by arguing that the party's survival depended on economic growth. This, he reasoned, could only be delivered by opening China wider to foreign investment and breaking the state's grip on the economy. The current leadership has been talking about steering the country away from a blind pursuit of growth and paying more attention to the concerns of the marginalised. But it shows no desire to abandon Deng's formula for success.
Leave a Reply