Is China outsourcing labour to poorer countries? (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by Red_Scare@lemmygrad.ml to c/asklemmygrad@lemmygrad.ml

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I support the CPC.

Heard this accusation recently:

China takes part in imperialist plunder by outsourcing all labour intensive tasks to poorer countries to exploit cheap labour, and only the final assembly is done in China anymore.

What is our party line on that?

Edit: thank you all for the answers! I'm far from being an economist and don't feel confident enough to immediately demand sources something might well be a common knowledge.

I was now given this source: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/74902/1/dp205.pdf

In particular:

more than half of China’s export value in 2005 corresponds to that of imported inputs that are merely assembled in China.

only thirty four percent of the value of China’s processing exports in 2005 was domestic content, while the other two thirds corresponded to the value of the imported inputs.

in the high-tech category, it consistently amounts to approximately 90 percent of total high-tech exports

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[-] Barx@hexbear.net 37 points 1 month ago

That accusation is incorrect. China has full production of tons of stuff and primarily imports raw materials. They achieve low costs through efficient utilities and public goods (transit, e.g.) and tightly integrated and dense supply chains. Making a ton of stuff in the same country with efficient rail is one reason why they can keep costs low.

Marxist nerds pore over economic stats to ask questions about net exploitation and so on. Michael Roberts is one of them and his positions in this tend to be pretty good.

[-] culpritus@hexbear.net 29 points 1 month ago

The expansion of renewable energy by China is going to significantly accelerate China's competitive advantage too. Renewables are really low cost after the initial build-out is recuperated. This will make China's goods even cheaper in the long run.