China Ranks Third in Global Robot Density: A Disaster Created by the Chinese Communist Party

Leaders in the tech industry have warned that reducing the risk of human extinction caused by artificial intelligence should be a global priority on par with other large-scale societal risks.

[People News] Recently, Chinese state media announced that according to the newly released 2024 World Robotics Report, China ranked third globally in "industrial robot density" in 2023. With 470 robots per 10,000 employees, China trails behind South Korea (1,012 robots) and Singapore (770 robots) but has surpassed Germany (429 robots) and Japan (419 robots).

Logically, equipping employees with robots should reduce their workload and alleviate work-related stress. However, the reality for workers across various industries in China, as evidenced by their lived experiences, completely disproves this causal relationship. Within China, articles have raised alarms, stating that in 2023, the country’s 737 million workers collectively broke a nearly 20-year record, achieving an average workweek of 49 hours. This amounts to a staggering 2,450 hours annually, placing China far ahead among 167 countries globally.

If China's average work hours are defined as "1," South Korea's figure would be 0.764, Japan's 0.658, and Germany's even lower at 0.548. Although data on Singapore was not included in the report, on September 9, 2024, Singapore’s Minister for Manpower, Tan See Leng, publicly addressed the issue of weekly work hours among local employees. He noted that from 2019 to 2023, the average and median weekly work hours for full-time employees aged 25 to 64 across different income levels had declined. Even at the previous peak of 45.8 hours per week, Singaporeans still worked fewer hours than their Chinese counterparts.

Under the Chinese Communist Party's rule, the density of robots and its ranking have continuously risen, even reaching the global top three. However, this has not reduced the working hours of Chinese people, nor has it improved GDP per capita—a direct indicator of wage levels.

Another domestic article noted that South Korea, with full-time employees working an average of 43.22 hours per week, boasts a per capita GDP of $32,300, nearly double that of China. Meanwhile, Singapore, where average weekly work hours are 44.3, reports an even higher per capita GDP of $82,800—roughly six to seven times that of China. Based on 2023 World GDP per Capita Data, the per capita GDPs of the top five countries in robot density—South Korea, Singapore, Germany, and Japan—are $33,100, $84,700, $52,700, and $33,800, respectively, all of which far surpass China’s $12,600.

Although the rankings primarily reflect the prevalence of industrial robots in manufacturing, this highlights a more troubling reality: in China, higher robot density correlates with worsened survival and development conditions for industrial workers and entire industries. International Federation of Robotics President Tadahiro Ito made a telling observation: “Robot density is an effective indicator of the level of automation in manufacturing across countries. Despite China's massive manufacturing workforce of approximately 37 million people, the country's substantial investment in automation technology has resulted in such a high robot density.”

For the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a high level of manufacturing automation signifies the "rise of a great power." Internet users have noted that Xi Jinping’s administration has outlined nearly "250 directions" for China and the world—far more than the focus on China alone or its immediate neighbors by previous leaders like Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Thus, accelerating the automation of manufacturing is inevitably a part of this grand vision. To “set the direction,” China must position itself as a “leader.” And to ensure advanced technologies are adopted across industries, massive state investments—often characterized as reckless spending—are unavoidable.

However, this funding comes from the hard-earned money of hundreds of millions of ordinary Chinese citizens. During Mao’s Great Leap Forward, the mass production of steel caused millions to starve to death. Now, the CCP is extracting even more from the populace to pursue high-tech "leaps," potentially leading to even greater suffering. While robots can boost production volumes almost instantaneously, if the goods cannot be sold, they merely become unsellable inventory—wasted output.

Take 2023, the year China achieved the world’s third-highest industrial robot density. In April, an article titled How to Address Current Structural Overcapacity? highlighted that the most critical indicator of overcapacity is capacity utilization. By the second half of 2023, China's overall manufacturing capacity utilization had already fallen "below historical averages." In particular, industries such as computer communication electronics, electrical machinery, and automotive manufacturing—the backbone of equipment manufacturing—performed the weakest, while raw materials sectors also lagged. Additionally, in consumer manufacturing, both essential goods and discretionary items experienced varying degrees of underutilization.

Judging from the widely circulated response to government efforts to "stimulate consumption"—"If I had money, I wouldn’t need you to stimulate me"—it seems that domestic destocking efforts are facing significant challenges. Can China succeed in exporting its overcapacity instead? The answer is clear from years of actions taken by Western countries. Anti-dumping measures from the West and the U.S.-China trade war initiated during Trump’s first term—set to escalate to a proposed 60% tariff increase in a potential second term—demonstrate the barriers China faces.

Moreover, if countries, including those in Europe and the U.S., were placing a flood of orders with China, the CCP wouldn’t need to send its "experts" to argue with the U.S. Treasury Secretary, who has pointed out China's overcapacity issues, in front of its own citizens. This reaction mirrors the instinctive response of unscrupulous merchants who angrily lash out at customers when they can’t sell their substandard goods.

Of course, the CCP has its bag of tricks to sell off excess production. For instance, it lends money to Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries, coaxing them into large-scale infrastructure projects while conveniently offloading Chinese overcapacity. Similarly, when "zombie enterprises"—companies that perpetually lose money while relying on debt—continue to appear, the CCP simply writes off their debts. Once the national treasury runs dry, it resorts to heavy taxation or printing more money to keep the game going.

With the export sector long in decline, a wave of closures has swept through many coastal enterprises and factories in China. Business owners shutting down operations, despite knowing the livelihoods of their families depend on them, reveals their deep despair. Entrepreneurs and factory owners seeking to cut losses have turned to investing in the stock market and real estate, only to face the grim reality of plummeting stock and property prices. If even the bosses can’t make money, workers are left with nothing but desperation.

One domestic expert, in a study titled The Impact of Industrial Robots on Manufacturing and Employment, acknowledged that "the negative impact of industrial robots on employment is widespread," primarily by replacing low-skilled workers. These displaced workers, who are predominantly low-educated, face the greatest difficulty finding new jobs. While robots create some new positions, the number of new jobs falls far short of those lost.

Today, societal instability is fueled by a growing number of individuals described as "eight lost" (失): failed investments, unemployment, unfulfilled lives, broken relationships, imbalanced mental states, emotional breakdowns, disordered minds, and poorly supervised youth. Other groups include the "three low, three few" (低少): low income, low social status, low reputation, few social interactions, few mobility opportunities, and few channels for relief. Finally, there are the "four none" (无) and "five lost" (失): no spouse, no children, no stable job or income, no property or assets; and failed investments, unfulfilled lives, broken relationships, mental imbalance, and emotional breakdowns, respectively. Many from these groups have become key perpetrators of indiscriminate violence and social retribution.

This situation is directly linked to the CCP’s relentless pursuit of becoming the world’s "largest consumer of industrial robots" and the "biggest industrial robot market," at the expense of low-skilled workers. By stripping countless workers of their jobs, the CCP is deliberately creating "unstable factors" in society.

Being exposed by capitalist countries for its overcapacity issues has already shattered the CCP's facade. The unemployment crisis has further eroded public morale, with social tensions and hostility rising sharply. Ignoring the well-being of its citizens, the CCP’s myriad "directions" can only lead to a dead end. Having embarked on a path of no return from the very beginning, followed by decades of stubbornly treading a misguided, destructive course, the regime seems destined to crash headfirst into a wall and collapse.