ABSTRACT
The emergence of China as a robust economic entity is a recent development that cannot be easily dismissed or ignored. Since the early 1990s, China has begun to rapidly integrate with the global economy. From the 1980s, the newly industrialized economies of East Asia (NIEs), particularly Hong Kong and Taiwan, have moved aggressively by shifting their production processes to China. The entry of China into the World Trade Organization (WTO) as one of the world’s lowest cost producers is a clear sign that pricing pressure will continue to build up within and beyond the East Asian region. Foreign direct investment from Europe, North America, Japan, and NIEs continues to pour into China, fully exploiting the tremendous cost advantages in terms of labor, technology, accessibility to its domestic economy, and proximity to other Asian markets.
