Dragon Vs Tiger

Not long ago, I read an article that talks about China's achievements in comparison with India's. The author concludes the article with an ominous warning about the price we have to pay to attain the same level of growth that China has shown over the past 25 years. Here are some excerpts from the article:

• Praise heaped on China by western organizations and media.

World Bank President James Wolfensohn attending the 'Conference on scaling up poverty reduction' in Shanghai in May, 2004, has heaped praise on China. The UN News site, no less, reports this: "Wolfensohn said the Chinese Communist Party's five-year economic plan was a good example of effective poverty-reduction strategies. "Shanghai is the obvious place to start considering ways to reduce poverty," he said. "There is something here we need to learn about constancy and good management." ". Hilary Benn, a British politician is quoted as saying, "China shows what can be done with the right circumstances and the right policies." Mark Malloch Brown of the UNDP said, "China took the lead in its war against poverty rather than relying on development agencies to steer its course."

• China's achievements and secrets

China's achievements, as parroted, are formidable. In the 25 years since it took to the capitalist road, poverty has fallen from 50% to less than 10%, GDP increased from $360 billion to $12 trillion, its ranking in world trade climbed to four and its average personal income, risen to today's $1000. China's strategy to achieve all this—in strictly economic terms—can be simply stated thus: remove all barriers to growth in a controlled area, viz the eastern seaboard, create a boom there mostly through huge investments in infrastructure, and then take the prosperity in a bag, for distribution in the vast hinterland.

• Chinese deception

China defines its poverty line at $76 per year, whereas India conforms to the World Bank norm of $365/year. Think that over deeply and then, evaluate India's performance. Also, for a country with an average income of $1000 a year, China's definition of its poverty line is astounding. Only less so, than world's applause for its performance. China's compliance with the UN Statistical System is partial whereas India's is total". Truth is, China's is an 'open' economy in a 'closed' society where 'facts' are opaque and answerability is non-existent. It is widely suspected, that a large part of it's huge FDI is in fact, ill-gotten local money [—'black money', you'd call it here] round-tripping back as investment.

• Rights in a left country

For 3 weeks in 1989, civilians—mostly students— gathered in Beijing's Tienanmen Square in protest against a wide variety of social issues. The state moved with alacrity. The details of what happened may be read here, but at the end of it, 2600 lay dead and over 7000 were injured.
In Kashmir, no 'outsider'—even if he is married to a Kashmiri girl—may buy property under a covenant known as Article 370. In just forty years, China has overwhelmed locals in Tibet by a planned influx of ethnic Chinese.
On another front, the one-child-per-family policy, implemented by coercion, maybe leading to grave economic concerns today, but that is an issue apart, from the central one of rights. Indians still recall the Emergency's birth-control forays as a great incursion into their rights.
For those exercised over the Tehri and Narmada dams, the Three Gorges Dam in China would be an eerie story to read. It will cost $26 billion, rise 180 metres and displace 2 million people.