The largest movement Chinese government has to take is to reduce
its interventions over market after China joining the WTO. As enterprises,
they need the supports from their own industrial associations after
the gone away government influences. In the developed countries,
industrial associations have great power and influence on government
policy. For instance, for protecting the domestic farmer's interests,
Japanese farmer's association enforced the government to apply restrictions
on Chinese agricultural products. EU veterinarian's association
can dominate "destiny" of imported meat at any time. While
US steel association urged the government to start up the Article
201 on limiting the import of foreign steel products, British steel
association immediately jumped out and said "no" to it.
However, the industrial associations in China have baby-like size,
old-man-like reacting capability, and limited influence over the
industries. Therefore, AIC analysts predict that they will be the
weak link after China joining the WTO. The weakening industrial
associations of China have their special historical background.
China has had planned economy for more than three decades, the government
sector has influenced the economy for a long time, and most enterprises
are SOEs. Thus, the industrial associations can never been really
developed independently. The current ones are the departments for
taking in old officials to end their political lives there. For
example, amongst 54 member units of Shanghai Industry Industrial
Association, there are about 370 employees, less than average 7
people are in one unit, and more than 40 percent of them are over
sixty-year-old. Most of the chairpersons of the units are "grandpas
and grandmas". Without the effective backups from industrial
associations, we can image that Chinese enterprises would have a
tougher-than-expect life after China entering the WTO. |
