What they are saying is true. China did lure in foreign investment via the provision of reliable, cheap and good quality labour. It was the basis of Deng’s reforms. It led to a massive increase in overall wealth in China but also led to a rise in inequality. To deny this would be delusional.

I am not sure what their complete understanding of China’s opening up is like. A commmon left-anticommunist and liberal understanding is that Deng’s reforms were pushed through by the capitalist class in China for no reason other than to line their pockets. This is a terrible take in my opinion. The reforms were decided upon by the communist party to not only develop industrial capacity through foreign investments but also to boost their technological capabilities through technology transfer arrangements with their western customers. Computing and internet for example are fields that communist countries were beaten at by the US. Looking at how reliant we are on computers these days the ramifications of this would have been immenese if the gap just kept on increasing. Through Deng’a reforms they have reached a point where 80% of the phones I see here are Chinese, they have made great strides in AI research and self reliant chip production is on the horizon.

All this does not even include the important position China has put itself in in the global supply chain that NATO is scrambling for derisking with underwhelming results.

Despite the inequality resulting from Deng’s reforms, the communist party has taken steps to eliminate poverty and bridging the urban rural-divide in its five year programnes. They will probably take further steps to make their society more harmonious. China’s recent programme to eradicate extreme poverty was unprecedented but there was not a peep about it in Western and India media.

The difference here is that Modi government’s deals with Western corporations to set up factories are isolated and myopic PR stunts while China’s dealings were a part of well-planned long term national campaign that has borne fruits resulting in China becoming an economic and technological powerhouse. If Modi government actually wanted to elevate India as a nation through an export oriented manufacturing model, they would first have to invest in primary education and basic healthcare so that we would have an educated, healthy proletariat to leverage. But they are fascists so they won’t. Instead you would get isolated factories that are subsidised by our tax money but still owned by western corporations with no plans of technology transfer that would enrich no one in India but the ultra rich.