Finnish Prime Minister says fears of China exaggerated

Vanhanen believes growth in China promotes well-being in Finland as well

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Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) says that economic growth in China is good for the advancement of well-being in Finland as well.
      In an interview with Helsingin Sanomat during his ongoing trip to China, Vanhanen said that there are exaggerated fears surrounding the giant of the East.
      Vanhanen was in the southern city of Guangzhou (Canton), one of China’s oldest trading centres. In the 19th century the city was used as a stepping stone by foreign powers to forcibly get a foothold in the lucrative Chinese market.
      Now China is opening up on its own terms, and Vanhanen says that Finland needs to be involved.
      "For instance, about half of the world’s escalator production is here. If you want to be any kind of a factor in that field, you have to be here", Vanhanen says.
     
Prime Minister Vanhanen’s trip is an unofficial one aimed at promoting Finnish business in the country with 1.3 billion inhabitants. According to Vanhanen, China is especially important now that economic development in Central Europe has been somewhat sluggish.
      Vanhanen notes that China’s annual growth is between eight and nine percent, making it one of the largest areas from which Finland can also reap benefits.
      More than 200 Finnish companies operate in China, and they employ about 23,000 local people. There are also concerns that Finnish jobs might be exported to China, leading to higher unemployment in Finland.
      "These fears are exaggerated", Vanhanen says.
      He says that Finnish companies get a turnover of about EUR 7 billion from their activities in China, of which only EUR 200 million comprises operations that have been moved out of Finland. Most of the growth originates in China.
      As Vanhanen sees it, success by Finnish companies in China strengthens their operations in Finland as well. He says that a worse option would be for companies to try to operate on the Asian market from Finland, without actually being in the area itself.
     
During his one-week visit Vanhanen, along with his business delegation, are seeing the most developed parts of a massive developing country: Greater Shanghai in the east, and Guangdong Province in the south.
      Shanghai made a particularly strong impression on Vanhanen. In just over a decade the city has been turned into a modern metropolis of 20 million people and thousands of skyscrapers.
      "It shows that there is not the slightest reason to underestimate China."
     
The international trade union movement and human rights organisations say that the economic miracle has come at a heavy price.
      China’s communist leaders do not allow the formation of trade unions, and the rights of many are suppressed. In recent years these matters have been downplayed in the speeches of European politicians who focus on praising China’s achievements.
      "We cannot wait for this country to turn into an ideal state, and begin cooperation only then. I believe that Finnish investments here will promote development, create good practices, better working conditions, and labour protection", Vanhanen says.
     
An EU arms embargo against China, which was imposed after the massacre at Tienanmen Square in 1989, remains in force.
      Some member states are still in favour of the arms export ban, but Finland has long called for its removal. Critics say that this shows that Finland is once again pandering to the interests of a communist power.
      As Vanhanen sees it, open economic cooperation changes societies - including that of China - for the better. The living conditions of hundreds of millions of Chinese have improved since the country opened up, to a large extent thanks to the arrival of international capital, he says.
      "Economic globalisation has brought better results than the previous isolation", notes Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Vanhanen in China calls for more Finnish investments (13.9.2005)

Helsingin Sanomat