Business.view: Beware the Beijing model
Talk of a new, Chinese model of capitalism merits scepticismCHINA may or may not achieve its target of 8% economic growth this year. But there is still a sense of triumphalism among Chinese business leaders, politicians and academics. The economic crisis, in the view of many people around the world, has revealed the catastrophic shortcomings of the American system of capitalism. Chinese officials have endured years of lectures from visiting Western officials about how to reform their economy; but now many countries are looking to China’s stimulus package, not American verbiage, to help pull them out of the mire. The economic downturn has also opened the door to a seemingly alternative ideology to the West’s liberal-market approach. So, goodbye “Washington Consensus” (in favour of open markets and limited government involvement in business) and hello to what is being called the “Beijing model” or “China model”. Instead of placing one’s trust in the market, the future of economic growth is seen to be coming from a more muscular state hand on the levers of capitalism. ...
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