On the other hand, there is the Cold War-ish standoff the Bush administration has doggedly reconstructed since coming to power just over a year ago.
I know where I stand along this line of inquiry, and I don't feel particularly lonely. I'd rather see a Proton plant in North Korea than some American spook pretending to be an impartial inspector. The one may be impractical at present, but the other will be unproductive -- perhaps purposefully.
The Europeans have now told the North Koreans to start reforming their economy and shape up on the human-rights side if they want more aid. This is just the kind of leverage that's needed, but let's not forget what makes it possible: Less than a year ago the EU took the sensible decision to recognize North Korea -- pointedly, I thought at the time, in the face of Washington's revived hostility.
It has been a long and winding road for Proton, I must say. I recall visiting the Shah Alam plant just before it opened in the late 1980s. The notion of a Malaysian car looked like a hopeless folly at the time. The first Proton Saga came off the line with a subsidy of 20 percent or more, by most analysts' reckoning. Capacity utilization was dismal, and export markets were an embarrassing fantasy.
Now Proton is making a credible bid to become a regional player in the economy end of the market -- and may climb upscale in due course. In January it bought a 49 percent interest in Gold Star Heavy Industry, a Chinese parts maker, which will reduce its dependence upon expensive components shipped from Japan by Mitsubishi Motors Corp, the original source of Proton's technology and a 16 percent partner in the company.
After years of debt and losses, Proton's reserves are healthy, and net earnings, at 300 million ringgit (US$79 million) for the year that ended last March 31, are forecast to rise substantially in 2002. A sizable export market will open up with the creation of a free-trade zone in Southeast Asia -- as will competition at home, it must be added.
A regional player -- I never would have imagined it. Now this may become true in more ways than one. Life is long, one must conclude, and distant horizons eventually draw near. I can't imagine a Proton car plant in North Korea, but that doesn't seem to be the measure of anything.
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