State Neoliberalism: The Chinese Road to Capitalism

China has undergone rapid and sustained economic transformation in the last 30 years. Its development has been remarkable for a number of reasons. In the first place, its gross domestic product has increased at close to ten percent per year since 1978, and the country managed to reduce the share of the population living on less than US$1 per day from 64 percent in 1981 to 16 percent by 2006; effectively lifting 400 million people out of absolute poverty (UNDP 2006). The rapid growth rate was matched nowhere in the world except for the so-called miracle economies of Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. In the second place, although the Chinese economy has its share of problems, such as tremendous regional disparity, it also succeeded in upgrading its technological capability and escaped the threat of foreign domination. Over the years, not only has China become the global factory for inexpensive consumer goods, it has also enticed BP, General Motors, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, and other corporations to locate part of their research and development facilities in China. Furthermore, despite the importance of foreign investors both as producers aiming at the global market, or as retailers targeting the domestic one, foreign capital remains largely a junior partner in China’s development project. In the third place, despite the downfall of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, China’s communist party-state has continued to provide leadership for the country.