[Column by Son Sung-jin] China’s Onslaught

China is reported to have ranked first in the world last year in new car sales. A country that once merely served as a factory for foreign automakers has, in just over a decade, risen to a commanding position on the global stage. It has pushed aside Japan, which had held the top spot continuously since 2000. New car sales by BYD and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group still trail Toyota Motor, but they have already surpassed Honda Motor and Nissan Motor.
In shipbuilding, China overtook Korea long ago and has firmly secured the No. 1 position. Measured by the three key indicators in shipbuilding, China has remained the global leader for 16 consecutive years. Its global market shares in shipbuilding completions, new orders and order backlog stand at 56.1%, 69% and 66.8%, respectively, and are still rising rapidly.
This onslaught from China was not entirely unforeseen, but it has arrived with startling speed. Nor is it confined to just these two core manufacturing sectors. In December last year, leading Chinese electronics maker TCL knocked Samsung Electronics from the top spot to claim No. 1 in monthly global TV market share. It is no surprise that Samsung Electronics has gone into emergency mode.
The Chinese wave hit small electronics even earlier than large-scale heavy industries or major home appliances. Audio enthusiasts were among the first to sense the rapid winds of change blowing from China. Around 2014, the term "Chi-Fi (Chinese high-fidelity audio products)" began to circulate. Chinese-made products that copied famous high-end headphones started to win recognition from consumers for their performance.
As the world’s manufacturing base, China has found it relatively easy to learn and imitate technology, even by stealing it if necessary. It endured the humiliation of both legal imitation and outright illegal copying, yet continued to advance. When a product offers 80% of the performance of the original at only 20% of the price, it is hard for any consumer to resist.
Korean consumers, who place great emphasis on "value for money," flocked to inexpensive yet reasonably good Chinese products. "Chison," a nickname for Chinese vacuum cleaners modeled after Dyson, soon followed and swept through Korean households. Its quality is somewhat lower than Dyson’s, but its price is far cheaper, and homemakers opened their wallets without hesitation. Chi-Fi and Chison are not the whole story; beyond audio equipment and vacuum cleaners, Chinese products are gaining market share in many other categories as well.
Chinese products have evolved from crude imitations and counterfeits into full-fledged replicas that faithfully reproduce the originals. Their quality has improved to the point where it is no longer fair to sneer at China as a producer of shoddy goods that break down quickly. The next stage—one that has already begun—is the development and creation of entirely new products.
Under China’s assault, Korean small and medium-sized enterprises are collapsing. Promising companies that produced items such as shavers, humidifiers and vacuum cleaners have either gone under or stand on the brink of bankruptcy. In the first half of last year, cross-border online purchases exceeded 91 million orders, and 77% of them were for Chinese goods. Logistics and customer service at platforms like AliExpress and Temu are improving as fast as product quality. In the face of this, even appeals to patriotism no longer work; the era of "buy Korean" has passed.
China is now leading global industry across virtually every field. It is boldly challenging the world with products it has developed itself, going beyond mere replicas. Some companies are beginning to dominate markets by combining cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics. The Roborock robot vacuum cleaner, spread by word of mouth among homemakers who have tried it, has taken over Korean living rooms that once prided themselves on buying only the best. Domestic robot makers have either announced that they are shutting down operations or, after hanging on, have been driven into bankruptcy.
China’s pace of growth now outstrips Korea’s. It took 60 years for Korea’s auto industry to reach its current heyday. Shinjin Motors launched the Toyota Corona in partnership with Toyota Motor in 1966. A decade later, Hyundai Motor Company began producing the Hyundai Pony and exporting it for the first time, and another ten years after that it finally entered the U.S. market. China is achieving a similar trajectory in just over ten years.
China’s industrial air raid is only in its opening phase. The upheaval will spread from small home appliances to automobiles, semiconductors and beyond. In core industries such as steel and chemicals, this scenario has already become reality, with large segments ceded to China. If we do not respond actively starting now, it will not be long before Korea’s industrial landscape is handed over to China in its entirety. Yet it is hard to see either the state or the public bracing themselves and preparing in earnest.
China is said to hold the world’s top position in 66 out of 74 core technology fields. This is according to a 2025 report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). China’s dramatic leap did not happen on its own; it is the result of massive, state-led investment. Every year, China produces about 4.7 million science and engineering graduates, including a large number of exceptionally gifted researchers. This stands in stark contrast to Korea, where medical schools have become a black hole sucking in top talent. At a time when we seem able to pass laws on almost anything, perhaps we need at least a "science and technology promotion" law to begin responding to this onslaught.
tonio66@fnnews.com Reporter