02 The West has declined because it has lost its powerful industries

There is no international standing without strong industry

1769-L30ERMS Looking back in history, although China paid a huge price in the two World Wars, it had the name but not the reality of the victor. After the end of the First World War, the rights and interests of Shandong were seized by Japan; After World War II, China’s interests in outer Mongolia and Northeast China were handed over to the Soviet Union by the United States. The root cause of these phenomena is that the industrial strength is not as good as the people, the comprehensive national strength is not as good as the people, and it is obvious to compare the data on the eve of World War II:

The United States accounts for 38.7% of world industrial production; The Soviet Union accounted for 17.6 percent of world industrial production; Germany accounts for 13.2% of world industrial production; Britain accounts for 9.2% of world industrial production; France accounts for 4.5% of world industrial production; China accounts for 0.3% of world industrial production.

1769-L30ERMS It can be seen from the above data that China’s industrial strength was extremely weak on the eve of World War II. Most of the limited factories belonged to the textile industry, while the heavy industry was almost zero. From small iron nails to large aircraft, tanks and warships, they basically relied on imports. At that time, China did not have its own industrial system and defense industry, which could neither guarantee national security nor support the sustainable development of the national economy. Under the law of international relations, the law of the jungle, China naturally suffered from bullying, and even China’s national sovereignty was regarded as the object of arbitrary disposal by the great powers.

1769-L30ERMS China is a devastated, poor and weak agricultural country. In 1976, China became the world’s sixth industrial country with a complete industrial system and cutting-edge weapons and equipment such as “two bombs and one star” and nuclear submarines. In this way, China got rid of the impression of being poor and weak, and the People’s Republic of China also became one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, and gained the status of equal dialogue with the old international powers such as the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France.

Thirty years east, thirty years west. In recent decades, the West has aggressively “deindustrialization” and East Asian countries have tried their best to develop their industries, resulting in the emergence of three major industrial centers: North America, Western Europe and East Asia. As a result, the era of one country dominating the world has gone forever. In the global political arena, East Asian countries have begun to play an increasingly important role. The international political pattern has also occurred from the “bipolar confrontation” during the Cold War, to the “one super and many powers” in the post-Cold War era, and then to the current “North America – Western Europe – East Asia” tripod era – the changes in the international status of each country are ultimately determined by industrial strength.

1769-L30ERMS

There can be no sustained economic prosperity without strong industry

1769-L30ERMS No “agriculture” is unstable, no “industry” is not strong, and no “business” is not rich. Because agriculture is subject to relatively limited output, of the three industries, industry is the industry with a really strong hematopoietic function, and has extraordinary significance for continued economic prosperity and social stability.

Since the financial crisis in 2008, the European and American economies have plummeted, and China’s economy has emerged as an engine of world economic growth, which is fundamentally based on China’s high-speed growth of industrial strength. The reason why Germany was able to achieve the leadership of Europe, especially after the European debt crisis, mastered the power to dispose of other countries’ national sovereignty, is also due to Germany’s strong industrial strength.
1769-L30ERMS If there is no strong industry, although it can rely on the sale of natural resources, it can not be successful for a long time. By selling its resources, Argentina was a relatively wealthy country at the beginning of the 20th century. In the 1970s, thanks to the economic rise of Japan, the large-scale demand for raw materials gave birth to a commodity bull market – the soaring prices of iron ore, oil and soybeans supported the economic prosperity of Argentina, and Argentina even stepped into the threshold of developed countries, but with the saturation of Japan’s demand for raw materials and Japan’s “lost two decades”. The ensuing economic collapse, coupled with populism and the short-sightedness of domestic politicians, has made Argentina the only country in the world that has “transitioned” from a developed country to a developing one (South Africa is the other).

SAN Juan – Argentina’s “Port of Abundance”Compared with Argentina, Brazil is also a difficult fellow, because of the ups and downs of resource exports due to the economic development of Japan; On the other hand, opening up to the market reform, so that the domestic industry has been seriously affected by foreign products, the proportion of manufacturing in Brazil’s national economy from 29% in the 1980s, shrinking to about 10% now, so that Brazil has forever lost the opportunity to carry the last bus of industrialization.