By Ding Yifan
Over a period of time recently, there have been some criticisms about economic globalization from developed countries. Some hold the view that globalization has caused social injustice and said it is incapable of treating global issues. Some claim that the rocketing prices of world energy and raw materials would put globalization at the risk of breakdown.
Some developed countries complain that globalization has benefited people in newly industrialized nations only while plunging some developed ones into poverty.
Such a judgment is partial. Globalization has caused some developed countries to transfer part of production lines of their enterprises to less developed ones, thus increasing the profits of these enterprises and promoting the development of their domestic capital market.
The import of some low-priced products from developing countries also helped create a "golden period" in developed ones in the 1990s, during which these countries witnessed "high growth and low inflation". A lot of luxury commodities they have imported from economically underdeveloped nations at low prices have also benefited large sections of low-income consumers back in their countries.
As a typical characteristic of globalization, liberalization of international trade is seen by some people in developed nations as benefiting newly industrialized ones and sacrificing the interests of the old industrialized ones. They said the growth in trade with these newly industrialized nations, which enjoy the advantage of low labor costs, has aggravated inequality in their own countries.
This conclusion runs counter to facts, because it does not elaborate what factors underlie the growth of international trade and what kind of contribution international trade makes to global economy. International trade is not a charity offered by developed countries to developing ones; nor is for the benefit of low-salary countries only. One of the advantages enjoyed by developing countries is the lower labor cost, which is exactly the main factor that attracts some enterprises in developed countries to come to invest there. It is exactly this frequent trade among these enterprises that has contributed a lot to international trade and also promoted the dramatic increase of their own economic profits.
It is now a common consensus in the economic circles that international trade contributes a lot to the growth of the world economy. As an emerging industrial country, China is not only a large exporter but also a large importer. Its imports and exports have been an important factor that helps promote economic growth of a large number of countries in the world, developed or developing ones.
Also, some people in developed countries attribute deteriorating global inflation, and the rocketing prices of crude oil, grain and other primary products to newly industrialized countries. They blame the rapidly growing demand in these countries had led productions to fail to meet demands, thus pushing up the prices of global commodities.
