Sleeping giants – Awakened or put to sleep?

Much has been written about China for more than three decades. India has been a hot topic for more than two decades. These two economies are sometimes less than complimentarily referred to as ‘Sleeping Giants’ who have awoken.I dislike this description and I have made this point before, in this column. However, given the continued admiration people have for these countries and rightly so, and the writings about these two countries that many world over engage in, I thought this point needs to be reinforced.

A condescending description

The term ‘sleeping giant’ is condescending. It is associated with size laziness and the lack of industriousness. Here, size is regarded distasteful, though Russia – which is yet the largest landmass in terms of size, even after the collapse of the USSR, and is almost twice the size of China, and more than five times the size of India – is not belittled because of its size and expectation of what size has to accomplish.

Made in Russia?

Russia is not known for sweatshops or clean rooms, designer apparel, household appliances or semi conductor chips, or even software engineering. No one will readily recall anything ‘Made in Russia,’ except of course the beauty of its women.

Of course there is a lot more about Russia that can be admired and I was pleased to learn recently, that many post soviet nations in the Caucuses (except perhaps Georgia) and Central Asia are yet close to Russia, even if they host an air force base of America as well as one of Russia. More on this later, since these experiences will be the subject of a separate article.

Stifled potential

The sleeping giant reference passes judgment on the culture and lifestyles of all the citizens and is thus unfair. Giants are often left alone to plod along. But this reference completely forgets that as far as the people of China and India are concerned their potential was stifled for decades by an ‘external’ force – its own leadership. While we can call itself inflicted it would be truer to say that it was inflicted upon or forced upon a citizenry.

Loss of a lifetime

Generations were robbed of opportunity. They were put to sleep. What is sad indeed is that, while these countries may have now awoken, many people who lived during the ‘closed and backward’ inward-looking era lost an opportunity of a lifetime. By the time the countries they lived in awoke, millions of their citizens and generations, had passed their best before dates and were entering their second childhood.

There are useful lessons for us and other nations in other continents whether in Africa or South America and today, even in Western Europe or North America. If China’s and India’s political leaders put their countries into ‘sleep mode’ for decades the recklessness and greed of a few American corporate leaders nearly put the world to sleep – though for a few years. We have all got to be careful about squandering a pre-eminence or squandering an opportunity.

Contd. on p 12

Sleeping giants...

Squandered pre-eminence

When China was admitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO) a week after 9/11 in 2001, there was extensive authoritative writing about China being ‘pried open’ – as if for the first time. However, what these writings forget or perhaps do not even know is that, apparently in 1820, China contributed to 28.7% of the world’s economy. India contributed 16%. France a distant third was at 5.4% and the US was in ninth place contributing only 1.8% of the global total.

Aware analysts refer to China as a country that squandered its pre-eminence. In the last three decades, the Chinese elite, its students and academics, its political leaders and policy makers and even dissidents collectively had a desire to reclaim its lost position. But let me also go back into history another 400 years to further reinforce the point about the pent-up desire of the Chinese to ‘get back’ their lost position!

Globalisation’s first wave – 1415 to 1914

The globalisation we witnessed throughout the 1900s, which is referred to as Americanised globalisation, is the culmination of a Western-driven initiative which began in Portugal 600 plus years ago.

In 1415 China and India produced 75% of global GDP. America was yet not discovered and the countries of Europe were backward. The wealth of the East was well known then. Arabs controlled trade routes. I had occasion to recently reflect on this – a few months ago while in Bishkek Kyrgyzstan when I stayed at the cozy ‘Silk Road Hotel’ on the Silk Route.

China’s duck farms and fish farms

My first visit to China was 27 years ago, in 1983 while on a Singapore Airlines (SIA) stopover holiday package visiting four countries. It was a SIA travel desk operator who suggested that I visit China through Macau. I got my visa in a day. We left Hong Kong harbour in a jet hydrofoil.

Landing in Macau, a Portuguese colony then, we drove inland into Mainland China. It was to Guangzhou. I have hundreds of slides of what were then only duck farms, fish farms and houses with thatched roofs with young men and women riding bicycles. It had been just a year before in late ’81 or ’82 that this area had been opened to tourists.

Our food

There was only one restaurant in that we could go to then in 1983 in Guangdong in Guangzhou Province. Our group of over 20 had people from at least seven different nationalities. We placed our order and waited for more than an hour and a half till authentic Chinese warm and tasty food arrived at our table.

Being hungry, a traveller from South Asia (not from Sri Lanka) pulled out a packet of food and ate what he and his wife called ‘our food’. I saw the hurt on the face of the Chinese manager and the waiters and waitresses who then briskly served our food.

I was happy that I waited patiently and overcame my hunger, complimented the food, tipped the waiters and waitresses, hoping that my gesture would have healed a part of their hurt and showed my fellow traveller that it would have been nicer to follow the etiquette about when and where you eat ‘our food’.

The dawn of a New China

I recall visiting Macau again after it reverted to China and have been to Beijing and Shanghai on a few occasions, and like many travellers can only say I have been awestruck by what I see on each visit – often wondering about whether the construction boom which fuels so much can be sustained.

I was amazed to learn of the unbelievable development in Guangzhou itself, which I saw in 1983, with skyscrapers, factories and offices – no more duck farms and fish farms, mud houses and bicycles.

Rather than engaging in detailed analyses, I would say without fear of contradiction in any forum anywhere in the world that both China and India were put to sleep due to inward-looking policies and programmes, political ideology and dogma – all self-inflicted damage.

Deng Xiao Ping of China and Manmohan Singh of India – perhaps 15 years later than China – have to be applauded for the roles they played. It would be remiss on my part if as a Sri Lankan, I do not place on record the gratitude we owe J.R. Jayewardene of Sri Lanka when he pried us open in 1977.

His work and that of President R. Premadasa should not go unnoticed, regardless of certain actions they took for which also they are better known and less liked. However, their forward march was thwarted by a 30-year-old war. That war is now over, thanks to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and General Sarath Fonseka and the many who were a part of their respective teams.

I hope these thoughts, a part philosophical, have lessons for many of us – whether in politics, in business or the professions. It has a lot to do with how we shape a new future for the next generation.