Unlike India, China seems to have developed a clear national
strategy. That involves textiles, textiles and more textiles.

Today, China accounts for something like 20 per cent of the world
market for apparel and garments. Chinese policy-makers have concluded that having a fifth of the globe will not suffice in the new trading world. Global trade will adversely affect Chinese SOEs and its agricultural sector — which is notoriously fragmented and inefficient.

The adverse employment effect of downsizing of SOEs and global trade in agricultural produce is estimated at around 12 million jobs. According to the Chinese, the only way of countering this in the short-run is to gun for textiles. Zhu Min spoke of a national strategy where China will attempt to raise its garment and apparel exports to a target of 50 percent of the world market by 2005-06. This, he felt, will create enough new jobs to counter the unemployment in SOEs and in the agricultural sector.
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