Stratfor says that strikes continue in China against foreign companies, but that the situation is more widespread and includes domestic unrest that is largely unreported in the media:

Chinese workers continued to strike at the Japanese-owned Atsumitec Auto Parts factory July 21 in Foshan, Guangdong province. The strike began July 12 at the plant, which makes parts for gearboxes for Honda and other major car companies. Separately, a strike began at yet another plant belonging to Omron, a Japanese company located in Guangzhou that makes electronic parts, including for Honda and Toyota cars. These strikes reinforce the recent wave of labor activity that began in mid-May with a strike at the Foshan Nanhai Honda Auto Parts Manufacturing Company. The strikes mostly have occurred at plants belonging to Japanese car and auto part makers (Honda, Toyota and Nissan) and their subsidiaries and suppliers, and they mostly have been localized in Guangdong province…

while there are historical examples of strikers focusing on foreign countries, and Asian ones at that, the appearance of a focus solely on Japan and other foreign companies is partly the effect of biased media. Stratfor sources in China attest to a wide range of labor pressures at domestic companies, including state-owned companies. China’s press is extensively — and increasingly — controlled by state propaganda offices and censors, which can result in the hyping of stories about exploitative foreign companies (especially those capitalizing on anti-Japanese sentiment), and the suppression of stories about strikes against domestic labor action.

The need to strictly control the spread of information about labor pressures arises out of China’s concerns about the nature of the new trend. The latest strikes have been organized by workers seemingly spontaneously with the express purpose of working around official unions controlled by the local government or the company itself. Since these unions receive their funds from local governments or the companies to which they belong, they tend to serve the purpose of pacifying workers rather than advocating for their causes.

China seems to be having its own range of economic problems, including problems with inflation. Its money supply growth year over year has been about 25% (though slowing recently), and numerous asset bubbles have been reported. One way to curb inflation is to rein in growth, but that has its own set of serious issues for China. As you know, we admire the dynamism of China’s businesses and workers, but we are skeptical of some of the government’s reported numbers. Dynamism and corruption may be heading for a showdown of some sort.

In 2010 push came to shove in the EU and in the United States as well — and just look at the grave dissatisfaction among the people. If China suffers the economic problems that some have predicted, how severe might the conflict get between the government and the people?

This entry was posted on Friday, July 23rd, 2010 at 7:37 am and is filed under business, China, Democrats, EU, Republicans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.