ABSTRACT
Even Gerry had to admit that China might be more important for the East Asian regional economy than for the world at large. Nevertheless, he argued that this importance was often overstated, and questioned the way that figures were interpreted or used to inflate China’s economic significance for its neighbours. Thus, for example, while the growth rates of Chinese trade with regional neighbours were indeed large, he argued that these growth rates did not show the real significance of China as they had grown from a very low starting level. Furthermore, he argued that ‘China’s massive FDI boom, especially in the past decade’ was often built on recycled investment from within China itself seeking to benefit from tax breaks and other incentives for ‘foreign’ investors. In effect, Gerry argued that China mattered to the region much less than initial impressions (and statistics) seemed to suggest.
