Competition between Turkey, China will rise
Source: Today's Zaman Ankara Date: 2007-02-27
An article published in the prestigious US think-tank Jamestown Foundation’s China Brief claimed that Turkey and China are in a constant state of war economically.
The article, signed by John C.K. Daly, foresaw a hotter competition between Turkey and China for an increased share of the world’s textile market and regional energy reserves. Though the article affirmed several security cooperation schemes between two countries, it also depicted Turkey’s efforts to join Washington and the EU to stem the flood of low-cost Chinese textile export as a continuation of the Korean War by other means. Turkey had joined the Korean War in 1956 and fought against the Russian and Chinese communist expansionism there.
Daly confirmed that Turkey’s textile industry managed to revive itself due to the twin influences of a stronger Euro and EU quotas on Chinese products in 2006. Turkey also joined 24 other countries in 2006, in investigating China’s dumping and trade protection policies. The same year, Chinese officials have complained that a Turkish proposal to the World Trade Organization to establish a working group to research the global trade in textiles was intended to set up Beijing as a “scapegoat,” according to the Jamestown article.
The article claimed that Turkish and Chinese interests diverge even more sharply in the two countries’ attempts to secure reliable sources of energy. “Turkey scored an initial demarche in Azerbaijan with the May 2006 opening of the 1,092-mile-long, $3.6 billion, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, capable of handling one million barrels per day,” Daly said. Daly also regarded Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz project as a second blow to the face of the Chinese. The article accounted the Chinese counter steps as Beijing’s success to secure several bilateral agreements with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, including new oil and gas pipeline deals.
