Babe's Eye View article

When the Chinese government opened up its economy in 1978 and embarked on a policy of reforms, China has come a long way since then. In less than three decades, it has become an economic powerhouse, showing phenomenal growth the likes of which had never been seen before.

It has $1 trillion foreign exchange reserves, registering a trade surplus of $177.5 billion in 2006 alone. China is awash with so much cash—it just keeps on flowing into the country. Last year, $70 billion foreign direct investments poured into China.

The Chinese government has freed up control measures to allow companies and individuals to take the money abroad. China is expected to invest as much as $5 billion every month for the next two years.

When we were in China in 1974—before we had formal diplomatic relations with them—we embarked on a "Basketball Diplomacy" with the Philippine basketball team. The country was so backward then, it only had one good hotel—the Friendship Hotel—a '50s era structure built by the Russians. We had an opportunity to meet Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China's modernization and economic transformation, and of course, Chou en Lai who had just suffered a stroke at the time.

We went back in 1983, and could see the beginnings of progress back then. Two years ago, Max Soliven and I, together with the Tuesday Breakfast Club, visited Shanghai. China's transformation was remarkable—five star hotels were fully booked with tourists, and malls were crowded with Chinese shoppers eager to spend their money on luxury goods and other consumer items.

There was growth everywhere, with everything geared towards attracting businessmen and tourists. It was easy to see why Shanghai has been dubbed the "Paris of Asia."

Our ties with China date back to the 10th century, even before the Spaniards came to Manila. Certainly, our relationship with our Asian neighbor is longer than the Americans. Since we are closer to China, it makes sense for us to now more than ever strengthen our economic relations.

The Philippines already has a number of projects with the Chinese, like the $900 million North Rail project. Both countries should now embark on a program to promote the production of agricultural products like corn and rice. Many Chinese businessmen are showing a lot of interest in the Philippines—one of them the second richest man in China who will pour in up to $4 billion in tourism-related and real estate projects.

The Chinese are also looking at the mining industry, and a top steel company has expressed interest in putting up a nickel plant in Samar. In the Philippines, the Filipino-Chinese are the biggest names in business today. In fact, there's a joke among my business associates that less than 50 years ago, it was the Spanish—the Insulares—who were the wealthy in this country, so many of us claimed Spanish lineage. Today, times have changed. The Chinese-Filipinos have become big businessmen in this country. So now, all of us are frantically looking for roots that would give us some lineage or bloodline connected to China.

No doubt China's influence has become so great, with the United States beginning to recognize its emerging economic power in the global market. It has surpassed the US as the biggest exporter, and there's a growing concern that this could undermine America's global competitiveness. While the US is preoccupied with its role as the world's super policeman, China has been busy building up its pile, focusing on business activities that would sustain its economic growth.

It's rather ironic that a communist country like China is becoming one of the most successful capitalists in the world. Some 350 million Chinese have been lifted out of poverty, and while this is just a drop in the bucket since the Chinese number approximately 1.3 billion—this is a clear proof that a country with an autocratic form of government can achieve economic success by engaging in "capitalist" practices.

Even the Chinese are beginning to acknowledge that Communist Maoist ideologies will not bring economic emancipation. A number of Chinese educators are revising history textbooks to lessen the emphasis on the Cultural Revolution and relegate the concept of socialism to a modest single chapter.

The fact is, socialism and communism are ideologies that are no longer attuned to the times. Even Russia is focused on improving its economy, seeming to favor a policy of "state-controlled capitalism"—the kind that would promote more cooperation, rather than confrontation, with private business.

The local communists here could learn from the example of China. Instead of blowing up cell sites and harassing businessmen into paying their so-called revolutionary taxes, perhaps the Communist leftists should channel all that energy into economically productive activities. Only then will they be able to convince more people that they mean well and in fact have the capability to transform people's lives for the better. Communist leftists can continue pushing their ideology or their utopian dreams and mouth all those motherhood statements, but at the end of the day, people will listen to the rumbling of their stomachs more than anything else. The communist ideology is a thing of the past—Chinese capitalism is now the name of the game.

Senator Fred Lim will be filing his candidacy for Mayor of Manila tomorrow, and a lot of people are quietly rooting for him. Fred is of Chinese descent but was born in Manila. He was wrongly accused of being a non-Filipino when he ran in the presidential elections in 1998. He is probably more Filipino than most of us combined. We wish our friend Fred—all the best.