By Nitya Chakraborty
The McKinsey report on national wealth by end of 2020 released on Monday placing China as the largest economy surpassing the USA led me remember my visit to Shanghai in year 2000 when the entire global economy including China, was undergoing dot com bubble. I was covering an international conference on new technology organised by a leading American multinational which was having big business in China at that time.
It was a massive affair, more than five thousand delegates and significantly, it was full of young Chinese Americans who were then involved in the high tech companies in the USA which was then the supreme leader of the new technology. I had some interaction with the Chinese tech people at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial meeting in Seattle in December 1999. China was not a member of the WTO then. The Chinese delegation attended as observers and China got membership in 2000 meeting of WTO.
Indian delegation at the Seattle meeting was strong and consisted of some of the ablest officials of the then Vajpayee government. N K Singh of the PMO was the de facto leader as the Commerce Minister Murasoli Maran was ailing and he was mostly staying in his hotel. Singh conducted the tough negotiations from the Indian side and the most crucial issue was relating to transfer of new technology and the market access. India wanted a joint approach with China in negotiations with US delegation. India was then much more powerful in software technology compared to China. China agreed initially but at the last moment ditched India and bilaterally came to an agreement with the US delegation.
This was a bit setback for India as India would now be under more pressure from the US for concessions in the Indian market as already, the US has concluded deal with the largest global market- China. In the media room when I wanted to know from a Chinese delegate why they opted for a unilateral deal rather than a joint one with India, he said that it is a huge deal for the benefit of China. We want technology and the US is giving us that, what more’. Chinese delegates were constantly advised by the US based Chinese techies.
In that five-day conference in Seattle, during my interaction with some of the Chinese Americans, I found that how these non-resident Chinese, irrespective of whether they like the ruling Communist Party or not, are committed to helping China grow in new technology. Some of them said they would not go back to China but they would help others in setting up units. A few said that they would go back if proper facilities were given.
At Shanghai, only a few months after this Seattle experience, I came across a surge of young Chinese who were determined to make forays in the areas of new technology.
A large number of agreements were concluded between the Chinese start ups and the US and the other western companies. The representatives of the Chinese state owned tech enterprises attended in full strength and they had all the backing of the Chinese Government to opt for new technology. China was witnessing the beginning of its tech resurgence.
In fact, this high tech revolution was possible after the massive privatization programme undertaken in 1997 by the then supreme leader of China Jiang Zemin who took over in 1989 after the stepping down of Deng Xiao Ping and continued till 2002. Jiang was a technocrat and he introduced big changes in the working of the state owned enterprises also in order to do away with the sloppiness that adversely affected the growth in many SOEs.
During his regime, large number of high tech clusters were set up and both the private and the SOEs were given huge facilities to grow. There was a big push to the teaching of English language in schools for helping the new generation of Chinese to become global. Jiang had in mind the then supremacy of Indians in software due to their advantage of having English as a common language in India.
After Jiang Zemin Stepped down Hu Jin Tao took over and during his ten year long tenure till Xi Jinping took over in 2012 as the supreme leader Hu, also a top technocrat maintained that course laid down by Jiang with peripheral changes. That is how China has made fastest strides in technology leading to its unprecedented economic growth. All these took place in the last twenty years 2000-2020.
The Chinese Americans have made the big difference in making this Chinese supremacy possible and that is a big difference with India. During my many visits to USA in the last 30 years and interactions with the NRIs including my close relations, I found that the Indians are more interested in settling down in US and giving a good career to their children rather than going back and starting high tech ventures. Certainly, some NRIs have come back to India with new ideas and set up their own ventures. But the number is very small compared to the huge contribution that the Chinese Americans and the non-resident Chinese have made to the present status of China as the leading economic power surpassing the USA.
It is time, the NRIs body in USA and other western countries as also the Government of India think of concrete actions to make the Indian techies involved in India’s growth programme. Just address by the Prime Minister of India at gala gatherings of NRIs to contribute to India’s growth will not serve the purpose, there should be a definite time bound plan for action for the next 10 years.
(IPA)
