2010-08-03 09:55

Workers perform a quality check on the assembly line of the Geely Automotive Holdings Ltd factory in Ningbo, Zhejiang province. Handel Jones’ book interweaves the growth of industries including automobiles with explanations of Chinese culture, government policies and economic philosophies. [Photo/Bloomberg]

"Smart American people now spend a lot of time here trying to understand what long-term benefits are (in China)."

However, he said a political agenda often prevents some Americans from trying to understand China.

Take the currency valuation as an example. "Basically the revaluation of the renminbi is a major part of the political agenda," he said. "It forces US problems on China."

He said an appreciation of the renminbi would not have much effect on the US economy. China may buy more corn or a few more aircraft from Boeing, but "that doesn't change things very much at all", he said.

"It is false analysis by the US where they are blaming US problems on China as opposed to addressing the problems from the US side."

Jones said he became interested in China in 1983, when he gave a lecture of the future of electronics industry to a Chinese delegation headed by Jiang Zemin as then Minister of the Electronics Industry.

During lunch, Jiang "was telling me about China, some of his goals for China, and I was fascinated", he recalled.

In his effort to mingle and understand the Chinese, Jones said he sometimes gets upset and angry.

"I get cheated and feel very stupid sometimes," he said, recalling a bargain he struck with a saleslady for two pairs of rings. He ended up paying 80 yuan ($11.80) for the little items that were worth 10 yuan ($1.5) at most. But he is undaunted.

Instead, he began to study the ancient Chinese 36 strategies, a crystallization of ancient Chinese wisdom in warfare.

In fact, he has almost finished his next book, interpreting Chinese strategies for personal life and business, applying the examples of the Boeing 747, Apple and the Toyota Prius, as well as in forging people-to-people relationships, he said.

Meanwhile, he has also finished planning his third book, What Does China Think? What Does China Do in the Future.

"China invented gunpowder and the printing press," he said. "A lot of these inventions were not well utilized in terms of global position. So is China today different? Or will China become introverted and protective of everything?

"We think today's China is different. We think China really understands what it takes to be a global power. So we are trying to figure out what China will be like in 10 years," he said.

A bright future notwithstanding, China faces a lot of challenges, Jones said.

Management in China is relatively weak, he said. There is a lack of training in strategic business planning and marketing, because "the experts are not here to provide the training".

"There are very few Chinese companies today that are very successful in the global market. Huawei is an exception; ZTE is becoming an exception; Haier is starting to become an exception," he said. "But in general, they don't have the ability yet to compete in the global market."

Moreover, China has to tackle such problems as pollution, the income divide and developmental differences between coastal cities and the interior and different mindsets held by the old and the young.

"So the government has a very challenging (job) in managing growth, the growth of the middle class, industries, not over-consuming, and allowing people's minds to become more global," he said.