Cheap Labor?

The reality is even Chinese business people are chary of investing money in some poor Chinese cities and towns, since you can hardly find skillful workers in such places, where most hard-up peasants living there still cleave to the old idea that what men have to do is find wives and give birth to children; they also snub the role of education and blink at the suggestion that their daughters should receive schooling. Most functionaries living there are still supine on issues like how to find a way to alleviate poverty. They are even cock-a-hoop at receiving government handouts, thinking that the central government has the obligation to dole out aid to them; some venal officials-including some village heads or村官 in Chinese- there have been arrested for peculating public funds earmarked for Infrastructure spending. Beyond that, you also have to take shipping costs into consideration; toll roads are everywhere even in impecunious places, where local villagers even bilk out-of-towners trying to pass through their villages by using illegal road blocks. Such places have to ameliorate working conditions and bring in management wonks and experienced technicians to help them groom talent and train local workers if they want to attract investment.

Frustratingly, most Chinese people cling to the old idea that production and staffing costs are the most critical factors for foreign or Chinese companies when making an investment. . That may not be the case in the future since supply chains in most nations have been recast due to Covid-19; America companies are cogitating on the possibility of bringing some production lines back to America to mitigate supply-chain disruptions, in spite of mounting relocation costs and higher operating expenses in America. Dismayed by the trade kerfuffle between China and America over tariffs and protectionism as as well rising military and political tensions elsewhere, European, Japanese, and Korean companies are following suit, rebuilding their global supply chains closer to home. The advent of 5G mobile networks that can support the “Internet of Things” , coupled with advances in automation, robotics, or artificial intelligence , and specialized software or tools that can be used to run their factories' operations remotely. give global stalwarts a chance to boost productivity while slashing costs. Therefore, there are grounds to believe that decoupling has begun , albeit slowly and surreptitiously. And whether that's a foretaste of deglobalisation is still a puzzle.

If global powerhouses only gravitate toward cheap labor, then Africa not China should be the most desirable place for foreign investors, thanks to its cheap labour and copious natural resources, including oil reserves . Yet even Chinese companies blanch at the proposition of making massive investments in Africa like what foreign companies did in China, what with foreign investors there simply find themselves entangled in civil strife and a power-grub that put paid to their hope of investing in a safe place. Translation: you have to factor in security before you invest.

The suggestion that China would be well advised to invest lots of money in small nations willing to do China's bidding may not be a rational choice.
Arguably, the emergence of a global crisis like Covid-19, for the most part, has caused deep rifts among UN members at a time when UN's solidarity has already been torn asunder by polarization, personal loathing and the biggest nations' hankering for supremacy . Like it or lump it, poor nations have to take a stand in order to receive financial aid from the biggest contenders of this power struggle. Yet it doesn't hurt to realize that some small nations just want to sponge off your money and play the biggest nations off against each other rather than building friendships with you: they just look for other generous benefactors when you balk at paying more.

I wouldn't call them friends.