A glimpse of things not to come--in China
Sunday, April 8, 2007 at 9:30AM
Thomas P.M. Barnett


ARTICLE: "China Reconsiders Fairness Of 'Transplant Tourism': Foreigners Pay More For Scarce Organs; Israelis Debate Reform," by Andrew Batson and Shai Oster, Wall Street Journal, 6 April 2007, p. A1.

To me, this is a shift we'll see time and time again in China: what was just fine during the initial expansion and accessing of foriegn financing becomes no longer fine as China's internal markets and consumer class and sense of pride and ambition and entitlement grow.

You'll see it in adoptions.

You'll see it in FDI.

You'll see it in M&A.

You'll see it in international organ transplants.

Yesterday it's "be my guest" and "name your price" and "we welcome you," but soon it's "these are for Chinese first" and "we have to think of our own market/people" and "these aren't for sale."

A natural evolution signalling China's ever-deepening accession into the Core and the growing maturation of its domestic markets.

China will need its own organs/babies/companies, thank you very much, and the slightly kow-towing/sleazy/uncomfortable nature of past interactions will abate.

But all these shifts are indicative of China's rising, and they all demonstrate why the alliance I seek has a "don't sell beyond" date stamped on it, and the stamp belongs to China--not us.

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