They are the world’s most populous countries each with more than 1,000 million population. They are two of the oldest human civilizations although, in contrast to those of Egypt and Babylonia, they still survive today. With a rich, complex and very different history in terms of politics, economy, culture and religion, their relative importance in the world economy was far above that of all of Western Europe right up until the 18th century, according to recognized figures drawn up by Angus Maddison. Since then, they gradually became picturesque and little- developed countries, one subject to unviable rule and the other enveloped in government intervention and corruption. Their old days of splendour were far off in the past.
In just a few years, however, scarcely without being aware of it, the world has seen the emergence of two new economic powers. In the Eighties, the leader of the People’s Republic of China, Deng Xiaoping, opted for adjusting Marxism to the methods of the capitalist system in a peculiar practical combination that sought to restore growth and prosperity without renouncing the principles or the political regime defined by Communism. Since then, China’s take-off has turned it into the world’s fourth largest economy, or the second largest following the United States if measured by purchasing power parity, that is to say, adjusted by local purchasing power of the currency. When China was admitted to the World Trade Organization in 2001 it was the world’s ninth largest exporter. Today, it is the world’s leading exporting country.
India’s story is quite different. In fact, it remained far behind in the economic growth race until quite recently if we compare it with China. But it is now the world’s fourth largest economy (in terms of purchasing power parity) and since the government chose to liberalize, remove controls and open the country up to the outside world in the Nineties, India’s potential has gradually begun to come into its own. While China is the bright star of globalization because of its export potential, India has shown that globalization is also possible in services, as demonstrated by the proliferation of companies in the information technology sector in Bangalore and it provides a development alternative for the medium and long term based on political institutions that demand a broad social consensus.
From this part of the world, the transformation of the Far East seems a long way away. The opening up of Spain’s economy to abroad is relatively recent and its main horizon has been Europe as well as the inclusion of Latin America in recent years. Spain’s business foothold in China and India, while meritorious and heroic, is not in keeping with the current position of Spain’s economy in terms of world classification. Chinese products have obtained an important market share in Spain generating the second biggest bilateral deficit in foreign trade statistics, only behind that recorded with Germany. Meanwhile, Spain’s exports continue to be directed to «Old Europe», wealthy but showing very low growth, while its exports to China and India, two huge burgeoning economies, are quite minimal. That is to say, Spain is missing out on the best of the party of world globalization. There are relevant moves aimed at remedying the situation although it is clear that the road will not be an easy one. As Confucius, the famous Chinese sage, once said, the important thing is not how slowly we go along the road but that there not be any stopping. Globalization does not wait.
