"China also has moved away from its original status of purely producing basic, what you call, consumer commodities and Chinese companies are moving beyond China to various parts of the world"
About this Quote
China is no longer content to be the world’s workshop; it wants to be a boardroom presence. That pivot is what Sellapan Ramanathan (Singapore’s famously unsentimental “Mr. Lee”) is flagging here, in the careful, almost managerial language of “moved away” and “beyond.” The phrasing matters: it’s not triumphalist, it’s diagnostic. He’s describing a structural shift in power, not offering a compliment.
The small verbal shrug - “what you call” - is doing heavy work. It signals an awareness of Western shorthand: “consumer commodities” as the polite label for cheap mass manufacturing, the kind of output that built China’s export miracle while keeping it typecast as low-value labor. Ramanathan’s subtext is that this old story is expiring. Chinese firms aren’t just making goods for other people’s brands; they’re learning to own brands, acquire assets, and project influence through capital rather than containers.
Contextually, this fits Singapore’s strategic obsession: read the region early, adapt fast, stay useful. For a trade-dependent city-state parked beside great-power currents, the rise of outward-bound Chinese companies is not abstract globalization talk. It’s a warning and an invitation. Warning, because Chinese multinationals reshape supply chains, ports, telecoms, and finance - the very connective tissue Singapore thrives on. Invitation, because Singapore can position itself as the legal, logistical, and financial platform where that expansion is routed, normalized, and disciplined.
Ramanathan’s intent, then, is pragmatic statecraft: update the mental model. If you keep seeing China as a low-end factory, you’ll miss the moment it starts writing the terms.
The small verbal shrug - “what you call” - is doing heavy work. It signals an awareness of Western shorthand: “consumer commodities” as the polite label for cheap mass manufacturing, the kind of output that built China’s export miracle while keeping it typecast as low-value labor. Ramanathan’s subtext is that this old story is expiring. Chinese firms aren’t just making goods for other people’s brands; they’re learning to own brands, acquire assets, and project influence through capital rather than containers.
Contextually, this fits Singapore’s strategic obsession: read the region early, adapt fast, stay useful. For a trade-dependent city-state parked beside great-power currents, the rise of outward-bound Chinese companies is not abstract globalization talk. It’s a warning and an invitation. Warning, because Chinese multinationals reshape supply chains, ports, telecoms, and finance - the very connective tissue Singapore thrives on. Invitation, because Singapore can position itself as the legal, logistical, and financial platform where that expansion is routed, normalized, and disciplined.
Ramanathan’s intent, then, is pragmatic statecraft: update the mental model. If you keep seeing China as a low-end factory, you’ll miss the moment it starts writing the terms.
Quote Details
| Topic | Business |
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