Interview: Globalization without China is not globalization, says Japanese trade expert

TOKYO, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Globalization without China is not globalization and "decoupling from China" is completely empty talk, Yuki Izumikawa, an official of the Japanese Association for the Promotion of International Trade, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Lately, some Western media and organizations have hyped up the idea of decoupling Western companies from China and even talked about "a new era of globalization without China." Izumikawa disagreed with it, citing China's population accounting for about 18 percent of the world's total, and its total foreign trade volume accounting for about one-fifth of the world's total.

As a trade expert, Izumikawa pointed out that, for the world, China's most attractive place is its huge market and its excellent high-end talent. At the same time, China has a stable and reliable government and macroeconomic policies.

"Taken together, there is no country in the world that can completely replace China," Izumikawa noted.

Izumikawa said that China has actively promoted the building of regional economic cooperation platforms such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which is committed to promoting global common development, and contributed to supporting economic globalization.

China is opening up more vigorously, which will provide a more level playing field for foreign companies, he added.

Referring to the long-term economic cooperation and interdependence between China and Japan, Izumikawa noted several changes over the years.

In the early days of China's reform and opening up, China was regarded as a processing and production base by Japanese enterprises, which hoped to take advantage of the country's cheap labor and preferential policies, Izumikawa said.

Back then, Japanese companies made investments, set up factories, manufactured nice and cheap goods in China, and then exported them to developed countries for profits, he recalled.

Now the situation has changed, as what Japanese companies are bullish on is China's huge domestic market and high-end talent, Izumikawa said, adding that China's need for Japan has also changed from absorbing Japan's advanced management model and capital initially to valuing Japan's advanced technology and high-end components.

Although the needs of both sides have changed, their mutual need and interdependence have not, he said.

Izumikawa believed that "decoupling from China" put forward by certain people resulted from their misunderstandings of China under the hype of some Western media and politicians. As long as misunderstandings and doubts are clarified, further cooperation can be promoted, he said.