At the Paris Olympics, all the cuisine will be French, but mass-produced goods from China will be everywhere, from cutting-edge sports equipment to dinky souvenirs.
Tai added that China’s manufacturing sector has become “pretty cost-competitive” over the past 30 years, with many factories producing high-level original equipment.
“Going forward, Chinese manufacturing will move up the value chain by using more artificial intelligence or automation in the production process,” he noted.
“Although labour costs have risen in China, logistics, work efficiency and transport are much better in China than in those Southeast Asian countries,” said Qiu Dongxiao, head of economics at Lingnan University in Hong Kong.
“In China’s case, even though it has become a world leader in many advanced manufacturing sectors, not all of the low-end manufacturing has migrated out,” said Stephen Olson, a senior adjunct fellow at the Pacific Forum and a visiting lecturer and non-resident fellow at the Yeutter Institute in the US state of Nebraska.
“China remains competitive at both ends of the spectrum,” he added.