m_saini wrote:The japanese and koreans have comparable sales in India and China. If we're to believe that Germany won't play favorites between US and China just because of their car sales, then we should also believe that Korea and Japanese won't play favorites between China and India.
No, it is not comparable. Japan exports more than 10 times more to Cheen than India ($150B to $12B.) The numbers for Korea are about the same. Cheen is their biggest trade partner, bigger than the US. China consumes their cultural exports which are far harder to sell in the US and Europe beyond a few niche markets. KPOP bands have chini members, you do not see desis or goras on them. Japanese manga and anime have China-based characters and stories. They are naturally more culturally in tune with one another.
Furthermore, they (Korea and Japan) both also depend heavily on access to american markets for their tech goods and both host american military along with american military bases. The article claiming that a "political alliance" between China, Japan and Korea would rule the world, while technically true, would never happen in a million years. It's just a thought experiment like saying a political alliance between China & India would be a super-duper-superpower and everyone would pay tributes to the union.
They are culturally and racially related to one another which creates a base for such an union. We are not. Just as the EU eventually came together despite fratricidal wars that killed millions, there is no reason to believe it won't happen in East Asia. As the article says, there are groups in China, Korea and Japan actively looking at this after RCEP.
Besides, it's extremely patronizing to think that anyone *let* the chinese grow or that they became a power *because* of any country. They grew because of their own volition. Their exports are growing because they produce stuff for cheap and the alternatives burn and loot factories over wage issues. Their industrial monster was never going to be tamed just because of a virus.
N0, it is not patronizing but fact. If you look at the history of their industrialization, the majority of investment came from Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Without that they would have NEVER plugged into the global supply chain. The West allowed Japan, Korea and Taiwan into their market post WWII as a strategy against the USSR. Those three then invested in Cheen to create an East Asian eco-system which dominates global manufacturing today. Vietnam will be the next one pulled into this system. Again, culturally and ethnically related.
Without those investments from Japan, Korea and Taiwan, the West would not have invested in China as well. East Asian money formed the scaffolding for Apple, GM, Airbus and Tesla to put plants in Cheen.
Think about this -- India's hourly wages are 5 times lower than Cheen's. Africa even more. So why didn't we or the Africans get those investments if low labor costs were the only factor? Infrastructure is a factor today but Cheen had poor infrastructure no better than India's when the Japanese investments began.
They are simply closer -- geographically, culturally and genetically -- that anyone else would never have had the same chances at this global supply chain because of Japan/Korea/Taiwan's predominance in it.
BTW, the bar we are talking about is much lower than an East Asian union. We are hoping that Japan and Korea as well as the non-Anglo Europeans would turn away from Cheen. IMO, it is unlikely, they are far more apt to play both sides of the fence which would be more than enough to allow Cheen to grow despite decoupling with the Anglo-sphere.
