Some of the comments on this thread make no sense whatsoever. China is not a model of laissez-faire capitalism. China is a communist country. It’s not free market capitalism. It’s tightly managed and heavily subsidized by a powerful, central communist government that has its hands in everything.
If the tables were turned, and labor costs were cheaper outside China, everyone on this board knows full well the Chinese government would outright prohibit Chinese companies from exporting jobs (and money) from China. There would be tariffs and nationalization of plants, contracts and resources. People would be jailed or disappear. China isn’t a free market.
The UK is not a good model either, for a variety of country-specific reasons. Germany is a socialist western democracy with a relatively high standard of living and has managed the economic pressures reasonably well, including a thriving manufacturing sector. If you want to compare economies, how about taking a closer look at Germany?
