In Vietnam, factories are making products for tech giants, and their factories are continuing to grow. Even though this is the case, China’s ‘zero COVID’ policy has really halted their factories production, with their lockdowns when even a trace of COVID is detected. Due to this, manufacturers have started turning to Vietnam to produce their goods because they have cheap labor, are close to China, and they have good political stability. Even during COVID outbreaks, Vietnam continued producing goods in the midst of a vaccine roll out. This has led to Vietnam getting ahead and increasing their capital in trade.
This article is important because it shows how Vietnam could steal the spot of number one manufacturer from China. This would impact the region because it would shift power away from a global power like China to a not-so-global-power like Vietnam, signaling the beginning and the end of a new era. I think this event happened because China was too firm in their COVID policy while Vietnam was more lenient. The consequences of this is that Vietnam now has a leg up on China because Vietnam is cheaper and easier to produce goods in. This means manufacturers are more likely to produce goods in Vietnam than China now.
As it stands, China is a global superpower. But for how long will China remain a global superpower? China has a declining population meaning that there are less younger people to work in favor of the economy, and when there are less young people there is less of a chance of a country remaining a global power. Take for example Great Britain. Britain has been in recent years slowly losing its power. It’s lost most if not all of its foreighn territories, it has a declining population, and when compared to the US it is a meager global power.