Effects Of Globalization On China And The Uk Economics Essay

In the last 20 years, international business and trade has increased throughout the world and many countries have developed intentional link as globalization increases. The United Kingdom and China have a long history by trading. In the 1840s, the traded commodities were mainly opium, the indulgence on which was thought to be directly linked with the mental deterioration of the public in China. With the revolutions launched and the opium trade prohibited, the Opium War broke out, resulting in the taken over of sovereignty on Hong Kong by the UK. Business between these two countries then came to a bottleneck due to the issue of territory. However, such situation soon came to a halt. During the 1950s to 1970s, the third industrial revolution was initialized and boosted the economy to a brand new level. However, due to the “closed door” policy adopted by the rulers, China had shut down contacts with the world, and logged far behind other countries in the economy. In face with such problem, Comrade Deng proposed the reform and opening up policy to address the economic depressions in China. He pointed out that “Developing Is an Unyielding Principle.” With more and more business contacts and exposures to latest developments in the global market, business and trade between the UK and China have marched towards a health development (Eberhard, 2008). This essay will discuss how current trends in globalization are affects business between the UK and China. Firstly the recently trade between the UK and China will be analyzed. Following this it will discuss the communication between the UK and China. Finally, this essay will examine the transport links between the UK and China.

2.0 The trade between UK and China

Since China has implemented the reform and open policy, China’s communication with the foreign countries becomes more and more frequent. Moreover, the globalization development further cement trade relations between UK and China. Especially since China has entered the WTO, the trade contacts between the two country becomes more and more frequent. Furthermore, with the peaceful handover of sovereignty on HongKong governance, the relationship between China and UK has since then kept on good momentum. With the official visits between China’s Premier Zhu Rongji and Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998 indicating a good start of the bilateral relations (Xinhua News Agency, 2002), Sino-British cooperation on areas such as economy and trade, education and cultural exchanges, international affairs, etc, has become more and more frequent, and yielded great benefits to both parties (Xinhua News Agency, 2008).

The imports of miscellaneous manufactured articles and commodities from China and the exports of inedible crude materials except fuels have consistently been the major revenue source for both countries in the past 10 years (see Appendix). China has now become UK’s largest source nation of imports by dominating 56% of UK’s total imports in 2009. The total Sino-British trade volume had amounted to US$28 billion, with a year on year growth rate of 4.33% and a dramatic 264% increase when compared with that in the year 2000. The 2009 import and export volume from/to China stood at around US$23 billion and US$5 billion, with a year on year growth rate of 18% and 35% respectively. Meanwhile, the increased rate in export of transportation products was 14% in 2009, such growth rate jumped to an astonishing 81% in 2010, after projecting the nine-month period figure into a full year round figure (UKtradeInfo, n.d.). The increased level of exports on transport equipment is in line with the Chinese government’s increased inputs on railway and subway construction to fulfil the needs triggered by urbanization.

The data and information about the import and export of UK and China reflects the increasing commercial intercourse between the two countries. The expert and import between UK and China not only meets the production and construction demands of the both countries, but also brings much profits through the business to the two countries (Xinhua News Agency, 2002; Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 2008). The frequent and smooth trade between the two countries is mainly resulted from the globalization development. The globalization provides the advantageous environment for the trade.

3.0 Culture communication

Globalization has been described as the increasing interconnectedness of people and nations through economic integration, communication, and cultural diffusion (Appadurai, 2000).

Along with the development of globalization, the culture communication between UK and China becomes more and more frequent. More and more foreign exchange students that come from China would like to go UK to learn the knowledge and culture, and the number of abroad students of UK who prefer to go to China to study is increasing. The travelers of the two countries will prefer to visit each other after they have a little realization of each other’s culture, tradition, custom and some other aspects (Samovar, Porter & McDaniel, 2009). These aspects will drive the UK and China’s transportation and tourism industry development and connection with each other. With the various industries communication, the business men or enterprises both in UK and China may like to invest or search cooperation to each other (Leung et al., 2005).

Moreover, the culture communication makes the people in the tow countries have a better understanding and realization to each other in the aspects of culture, tradition, custom, habit, social value and so on. Therefore, in the actual communication and connection, there will be less misunderstanding and embarrassment, and the communication will become smoother. This will contribute much in the business between the two countries (Leung et al., 2005). Because it easier for people to understand the meaning of each other, thus in the business negotiation and communication, it will not be difficult to express the personal opinions, and make the other people to understand the intention. This will promote the business development and successful trade between UK and China. Therefore, the business can not leave the culture communication, and the culture communication can not leave the globalization. In other words, the globalization provides conditions and environment for the culture communication and information exchange, and these two aspects promote the business between the two countries (Alfons & Charles, 1998).

4.0 Transportation

In order to meet the increased business contacts and cultural communication, China and UK have both increase their inputs on the construction on transportation system (Mackerras, 2003; Hummels, 2007). For attracting more foreign investments, China has built a number of harbours in the coastal cities such as Yantai, Dalian, and Qingdao, etc. With the increased transportation capacity from these harbours, the goods and commodities can be shipped out to destinations or imported from foreign countries with greater time efficiency. In addition to the effort on water way construction, the development in airline business also benefits business communications to a great extent. In the past, transport costs were among the most important explanatory factors in economic geography and industrial development (Pederson, 2001). People in the two countries had to meet each other by ways of sailing, which might generally take a couple of days. The high time cost might generally force business to be conducted domestically. However, with the convenient means by air transportation, constraints from geographic location are limited to the lowest level.

Apart from traditional development in waterway and land transportation, virtual contacts via internet, visual video meeting, and other advanced IT techniques also help boost instant communication on the global wide basis. Companies no longer need to conduct business on a face to face contact, which has enabled business with any partners from all around the world (Mackerras, 2003; Hummels, 2007).

This can not leave the contribution of globalization. The globalization makes the information exchange and business in the scale of the whole world. Therefore, China can attract foreign capital and bring in the advanced technology and skills to make the transportation construction. And the transportation construction will promote the business and communication between UK and China.

5.0 Conclusions

In summary, based on the analysis of the aspects of the trade between UK and China, cultural communication and transportation between the UK and China, the essay has explained the way in which globalization affects business between China and the UK. The globalization provides the good conditions and advantageous environment for the tow countries to make the trade. Besides, the globalization promotes the information exchange and culture communication, therefore the aspects provides convenience for the business. Furthermore, the globalization is helpful for the transportation construction and development, and then promotes the business between UK and China. In a word, the globalization has great influence on the business between UK and China, the business development of the two countries can not leave globalization.

References

Alfons, T. & Charles, H.T. (1998) Riding the waves of culture: understanding cultural diversity in global business. New York: McGraw Hill.

Appadurai, A. (2000) Grassroots globalization and the research imagination. Public Culture, 12(1), 1-19.

Eberhard, W. (2009) A History of China. London: Routledge.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office. (2008) Written ministerial statement on Tibet. Available at: http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/news/latest-news/?view=News&id=8357859 (Accessed 29 November 2010)

Hummels, D. (2007) Transportation costs and international trade in the second era of globalization. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 22(3), 131-154.

Kettl D.F. (2000) The transformation of governance: globalization, devolution, and the role of government. Public Administration Review, 60(6), 488-497.

Leung, K., Bhagat, R.S., Buchan, N.R., Erez, M. & Gibson, C.B. (2005) Culture and international business: recent advances and their implications for future research. Journal of International Business Studies, 36(4), 357-378.

Mackerras, C. (2003) China’s ethnic minorities and globalization. London: Routledge.

Pedersen, P.O. (2001) Freight transport under globalisation and its impact on Africa. Journal of Transport Geography, 9(2), 85-99.

Samovar, L.A., Porter, R.E. & McDaniel, E.R. (2009) Communication between cultures. Cambridge: Cengage Learning.

The Telegraph. (2008) Nearly 8,000 Chinese students apply to study in the UK. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/2419814/Nearly-8000-Chinese-students-apply-to-study-in-the-UK.html (Accessed: 29 November 2010)

UKtradeInfo. (2010) UK world trade report. Available at: http://194.238.54.166/ReportFolders/reportFolders.aspx (Accessed 29 November 2010)

Wade, R. (1990) Governing the market: economic theory and the role of government in east Asian industrialization. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Wall, D. (1993) China’s economic reform and opening-up process: the role of the special economic zones. Development Policy Review, 11(3), 243-260.

Xinhua News Agency. (2002) Brief introduction to relations between China and the UK. Available at: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-05/15/content_393213.htm (Accessed: 29 November 2010)

Xinhua News Agency. (2008) Interview: China-UK relationship is “better than ever”. Available at: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/16/content_7428289.htm (Accessed 29 November 2010)