It seems like a decade now that people have been saying that China is going to be the next world superpower, leaving the United States and Europe in their dust. I’ve always been skeptical, the fact is that the Chinese may be ruthless, efficient in many ways and have cornered the world’s manufacturing. But the fact is whilst their overall GDP has rocketed, their per capita GDP is 78th in the world, below Bosnia.

The other main problem I see with the Chinese is their complete refusal to obey the conventions and rules of international commerce. The government or public at large don’t seem to care about intellectual property whatsoever. Pirated software is openly manufactured and sold, millions of counterfeit goods are made by the container loads to be sold in China and clandestinely shipped around the world. How can a grown up advanced economy function without the basic respect for intellectual property, in a place where brands can’t invest in their products because they will be mercilessly copied and ripped off by every Chinese person and his dog.

The BBC reported today that 50,000 stolen iTunes account are being sold on the Chinese eBay clone  Tabao. The BBC reported Tabao as saying:

“that it was not required to remove the listings because it had not received any direct complaints about the sales.”

Nice.

Another shady aspect of doing business in China is the fact that foreign companies can’t expand without a local “partner”. So if Starbucks want to open coffee shops in China, they need to find a Chinese partner to join up with. On top of that, 8 out of the 10 most valuable companies listed on the Chinese stock exchange are state owned.

People will carry on saying that China is going to overtake everyone and be our new corporate overlords, but first they need to grow up and act like a developed country by respecting intellectual property and concentrating on innovating rather than copying.