Note: This story takes the form of an interview
“kit”. Professor Sean Breslin is sat in a studio
against a blue chroma background (this should provide a good clean
key if required) and a studio to studio interview can be easily
simulated. All questions asked to Professor Breslin are detailed on
slates immediately before his answer.
There is a short set-up prior to the
interview.
00:00 HSBC
Chinese Bank sign
Exterior,
Bank of China
Bank
teller counting Chinese currency - Renminbi (RMB)
c.u.
Bank notes
Guide Voice: China’s economic growth has
just hit a six year high, adding 9.1% to GDP (Gross Domestic
Product) in 2003, making it the fastest growing of the
World’s major economies – but this success has
international repercussions.
00:14 Wide
shot and pull out – Washington DC skyline
Capital
Building
Washington
street – Capital Building in background
Guide Voice: In the US, following a
year’s honeymoon in the wake of China’s WTO entry,
there’s a new tone of criticism regarding China’s trade
regime; senior politicians have accused the regime of
“cheating” and needing to do more to open its own
economy to other countries – but the bigger issue is the
continuing growth of Chinese imports, which are seen as taking US
jobs.
00:35 Pull
out from Warwick University banner to show campus
Senate
Building, University of Warwick, UK
Professor
Shaun Breslin sat in studio
Guide Voice: At Warwick University in England,
Professor Shawn Breslin argues that simple notions of bilateral
relations between nation states are outdated and many US based
companies, and shareholders, are getting much more out of China
than the figures suggest.
00:56 Slate: -
Q1. “It has just been announced that
China’s economic growth has hit a 6 year high. What do you
attribute this to?”
00:59 SOT: Shaun Breslin, Professor of
Politics & International Studies, University of Warwick
-“I think there are two main reasons for this;
in the last two or three years the domestic Chinese economy
hasn’t been performing that well. There’s been a dip in
consumer confidence and the price index has actually been negative,
inflation, domestically, has been negative. In the last year
we’ve seen a small, but important return of consumer
confidence and that’s helped boost it. But the main engine of
growth in China remains the huge amounts of investment that are
going into China and the huge amount of exports going out of China
produced by this foreign investment”.
01:29 Slate: - Q2. “Why
are some American politicians currently criticising China’s
trade regime?
01:32 SOT: Prof. Shaun Breslin
- “There’s a general problem and a
specific one. The general problem is that, even though China joined
the World Trade Organisation in 2001, there’s a feeling in
large parts of the United States that the Chinese government
hasn’t yet done enough to meet its obligations, hasn’t
yet done enough to open the Chinese market to international
competition. The glass is either half full or half empty, depending
on your point of view but it is clear that there’s more that
China can do to liberalise its economy.
The specific is that with the American Dollar in
depreciation, theoretically, this should’ve lead to an
appreciation of the Chinese currency. But because the Chinese
currency, the Remninbi, is pegged to the dollar, many people in the
United States see this as a quasi de-valuation of the Remninbi,
making exports from China to the United States much, much cheaper
and being a hidden, unfair subsidy for producers from
China.”
02:25 Slate:
Q3. “You’ve said that much of
America’s investment in China is, in fact, hidden investment.
What do you mean by this?
02:28 SOT. Prof. Shaun Breslin
- “Increasingly now we find that large contract
manufacturing enterprises are acting on behalf of many global
producers. So, for example, the Flextronics Corporation operating
out of Singapore, may invest in China, or sign contracts with
China, on behalf of major producers in America and elsewhere. None
of this shows up in the investment figures, so if we just look at
the bilateral figures what we see is a huge amount of Asian
investment in China; but much of that Asian investment is itself
predicated on the roll of large American companies and, indeed,
companies from other parts of the world as well.
03:04 Slate. Q4. “Your
research argues that simple bilateral trade relations between
nation states are no longer relevant. Can you elaborate on
this?”
03:07 SOT: Prof. Shaun Breslin
-“What’s ironic about this huge growth of
Chinese exports into the United States is that it’s often
American companies that are producing them. The trade deficit that
China runs with the United States is, to some extent, produced by
American companies operating within China. Where’s the power
in this relationship? Are they really Chinese exports or are they
exports produced by major American corporations? In fact, does it
make much sense anymore at all to talk about the nationality of a
commodity when that commodity might have been produced across 7 or
8 different national jurisdictions?”
03:41 Slate:
Q5. “Just how big a player in the global
economy is China?”
03:45 SOT: Prof. Shaun Breslin
-“We’ve got to be careful not simply to
equate growth with wealth. If you produce one tractor one year and
two the next, you have a 100% increase but you still only have
three tractors. And even after 20 years of double digit growth
China’s per capita income is relatively low, in fact
it’s still only about half of that of Russia. Add on to this
the fact that there are massive regional disparities – if you
look at where the investment and growth is going it’s largely
on 8 or 9 coastal provinces and one of the key problems for the
Chinese government today is trying to balance out this uneven
growth. And, in fact, rapid growth can create many problems for
politicians; in some respects, more than negative
growth.”
04:26 End
