Re: China as a high tech source

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Michael wrote:
> Martin Hart-Lansberg told me that China is not moving very fast "up the
> value chain."  Might this be changing?

I am not sure how to answer this since I am not clear what it means to move
"up the value chain". Is this like the sort of thing that gets discussed on
Jerry Levy's list?

To me the only real question is whether China will ever have G7 type per
capita stats. China is number 85 in the 2005 UN HDI report. For
comparison's sake, Romania is number 64 and I don't have to tell you how
bad things are in poor Romania.

Maybe the best way to approach this question is to think in terms of 2
Chinas, the one that is "taking off" on the Eastern seaboard and the rest
of the country which is suffering deeply. The same applies to India.

I don't think it is any big deal to spawn very advanced capitalist
development. In 1917 Russia had bigger and more modern factories than any
place in Western Europe. And you know what happened there.