Shanghai: Different, yet the Same
By Adolfo Laborde
Professor, Law and International Relations Department, Tec de Monterrey, Santa Fe Campus. Visiting researcher at the Institute of Development, Funda University, China.
Abstract
There are plenty of myths about countries that have managed to achieve economic development in so little time. Too many, I would say. So many that it would seem that it’s nothing more than a society’s economic miracle or divine fate. It’s more complex than you think. Even though I had had the opportunity to live in Japan for five years and to travel throughout most of Asia, I had never been to China. At that time, just like today, I guess, the Japanese were very suspicious of their uneasy neighbor, whom they looked upon not only with mistrust but also with a bit of fear. Their fears came true. China is the second-largest economy, sending Japan to third place in the world. Today more than ever, the principles of one of the architects of Japan’s post-war international policy, Shigeru Yoshida, are true: you should separate politics from the economy.