On the world economic stage, the prosperity of industry has always been the key to the strength of the country. Historically, the rise of Western countries has been inextricably linked to the Industrial Revolution and powerful industrial power. Today, the U.S. is desperate for manufacturing to return because industrial support is key to making the country strong. Despite the development of financial and service industries, prosperity can also appear fragile without the support of industry. Some developing countries, such as the Arab countries of the Middle East, have also been weakened by the exchange of resources, as demonstrated in five Middle East wars and five defeats.
Against this backdrop, India and Vietnam are in the spotlight as relatively fast-growing developing countries. However, if they want to go further on the road to industrialization, they face a series of serious challenges.
First of all, a country's industrial development needs strong electricity support. Taking Guangdong as an example, last year's electricity consumption was as high as 787.034 billion kilowatt hours, of which the manufacturing industry accounted for half of the country. Electricity, as the backbone of industry, is essential for the development of the manufacturing industry. However, Vietnam faces a dilemma in this regard. Vietnam's domestic electricity supply is inadequate and mainly relies on hydropower, and the biggest drawback of hydropower is instability, especially during the dry season, which leads to large-scale power outages. Since June this year, Vietnam's industrial development has faced serious challenges due to high temperature and drought, and foreign-funded enterprises have been plagued by power outages.
In developing countries, thermal power is considered to be the most stable and cost-effective way to generate electricity. However, Vietnam's lack of thermal power technology and construction funds has left the domestic manufacturing industry plagued by power bottlenecks. Vietnam's domestic power technology is immature, it has lost aid from developed Western countries, and even China has announced that it will not build new coal power projects abroad. In the event of a power shortage and power outage, Vietnam can only rely on China for power transmission, which also brings certain benefits to China. Vietnam's desire to industrialize has been hampered by both technical and financial difficulties, making it helpless on the road to becoming the "world's factory".
India, which claims to be the "next China", also faces a series of challenges. India's unfriendly policies towards foreign companies have made well-known multinational companies encounter great difficulties in India, such as Xiaomi, Google, etc., have chosen to "flee" from India, making the desire to build local factories a luxury. In addition, India's domestic power and transportation problems are equally serious, with aging electrical circuits, chaotic power systems, frequent power outages, and frequent traffic accidents all important factors restricting the development of Indian industry.
In contrast, with its abundant resources and sufficient labor, China has made remarkable achievements in 5G, new energy, aircraft, aerospace and other fields. China has a large and well-established industrial chain, and has made remarkable progress in various fields. In terms of power supply, China's thermal power technology and construction funds are abundant, providing strong support for industry. China has not only industrialized domestically, but has also provided other countries with support and cooperation opportunities for industrial development under the Belt and Road Initiative.
To sum up, the strength of a country lies in the strength of its industry. India and Viet Nam, while making some progress among developing countries, face serious problems with electricity and other infrastructure, making their path to industrialization fraught with obstacles. In contrast, China has occupied an important place on the world industrial stage by virtue of the improvement of its comprehensive strength.