Should we be worried about Chinese economic competition?

George Gilboy thinks not: The Myth Behind China's Miracle (Foreign Affairs, July/August, 2004).

In summary:

Washington need not worry about China's economic boom, much less respond with protectionism. Although China controls more of the world's exports than ever before, its high-return high-tech industries are dominated by foreign companies. And Chinese firms will not displace them any time soon: Beijing's one-party politics have bred a timid business culture that prevents domestic firms from developing key technologies and keeps them dependent on the West.

Who is Gilboy?

George J. Gilboy is a senior manager at a major multinational firm in Beijing, where he has been working since 1995, and a research affiliate at the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.