EthicsWatch:
Asia column: Cheap in China – Low-cost sourcing’s high price

As economists argue over what 2008 has in store for our wallets, one major aspect of the debate is the “China price” – the cost of producing goods in China. The China price is largely what has redrawn the map of globalisation and shifted the emphasis of global business eastwards.

The China price has led to severe job losses in the west’s manufacturing heartlands and massive job creation in China. It has brought cheap clothes to consumers worldwide, along with electronic appliances and much else. It has also arguably saved a dictatorial Communist party from being ousted from power by preserving economic growth in China. As a result, the country has managed to absorb the massive internal migration that has taken place, grown richer and reasserted itself as the dominant Asian superpower.

The China price is at the heart of just about every debate regarding China and globalisation. If jobs are lost in Sunderland or Michigan then the China price is blamed. If development is slow or dependent on rising child labour or worsening factory conditions in Bangladesh or Vietnam then the China price is blamed. If ethical sourcing managers encounter resistance by factory owners then the China price is blamed. If western consumers are gorging themselves on gadgets and glad rags, running up unsustainable amounts of debt on their plastic, then the China price, again, is blamed.

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