Guangdong GDP larger than Russia, Spain, South Korea
Oleksandr Yakovenko, founder of one of Ukraine’s biggest drone producers, goes frequently to industrial parks in Shenzhen and other cities in Guangdong province to buy nearly 90 per cent of the components he needs.
As his car enters the factory, he often sees the car of his Russian enemy leaving by another exit. That maker of drones has also come to buy the same components.
Companies in Guangdong make more than 70 per cent of the world’s commercial drones. That is one reason why last year the province’s Gross Domestic Product reached 14.58 trillion yuan, up 3.9 per cent on 2024 and the highest in China for the 37th consecutive year.
That makes its economy larger than those of Russia, Spain and South Korea. If it were a separate country, it would have the third largest GDP in Asia after Japan and India and have the 12th largest economy in the world.
In foreign trade also, Guangdong ranked first last year in China, for the 40th consecutive year, at 9.49 trillion yuan, a record and up 4.4 per cent on 2024.
Exports were 6.03 trillion yuan, up 2.5 per cent and 22.4 per cent of China’s total exports, and imports were 3.46 trillion, up 7.8 per cent and accounting for 18.7 per cent of the national total.
Faced with tariffs from President Donald Trump, Guangdong firms diversified. The province’s exports to the five countries of central Asia rose 23.6 per cent from the 2024 level, those to Africa 10.7 per cent and those to the Middle East 8.5 per cent.
Han Yonghui, Professor at the Guangdong Institute for International Studies, said that the province had the most complete manufacturing system and supply chain capability in China. “This is the basic support for its long-term export growth, as well as a booming private sector,” he said.
Among the items with a high export growth were industrial robots, drones, 3D printers and farm machines, many with high technology, artificial intelligence and environmentally sustainable.
The most dramatic export growth was in e-commerce items, which rose 9.8-fold over 2024.
The province has 75,000 high-tech companies, including many national leaders, such as drone makers DJI and XAG, electric vehicle makers BYD. XPeng and GAC Group and telecom makers like Huawei, ZTE, OPPO, TECNO, TCL and Foxconn Industrial Internet.
Most striking is the comparison between the economies of Russia and Guangdong.
Russia is the world's largest country, with a total surface area of 17.1 million square kilometres. It covers over one-eighth of the earth's inhabited land area
and is richly endowed with natural resources such as coal, oil, natural gas, minerals and forestry. It is a major producer of asbestos, diamonds, platinum, nickel, iron ore and gold.
Guangdong province has 178,000 square kilometres. Its main natural resources are coal, iron ore and pyrite.
How can a country so richly endowed and 96 times the size of the Chinese province have a lower GDP?
The answer is the economic policies of President Vladimir Putin since 2008. Guangdong has been investing its money in new products and new technologies and attracting foreign investment, while Putin has invested it in the military.
In 2008, Putin started his wars by invading Georgia, then Ukraine from 2014 and a full-scale war in 2022. These led to economic sanctions by the west and disinvestment by foreign companies. Tens of thousands of Russia’s best educated and most qualified people left the country.
In 2025, military spending accounted for 7.3 per cent of GDP, according to Defence Minister Andrei Belusov.
In a report last month, the Bank of Finland said:
“Russia has doubled its spending on defence and domestic security. In pre-invasion 2021, Russian military spending amounted to 3.6 per cent of GDP. By 2025, the budget allocated the equivalent of 7.2 per cent of GDP to the war effort. Indeed, the actual amount of spending on the war last year was likely higher. Moreover, the war effort is supported via other budget categories such as education, social benefits and maintenance and construction of civil infrastructure.
‘The total costs may be closer to ten percent of GDP. Money spent on warfare is not available for public goods and services that could go to supporting the welfare and quality of life of Russian citizens. Economic growth would likely be higher with a smaller share of government spending on the military,” it said.
-
First two HK martyrs in Ukraine war were “so brave, so selfless” Mark O'Neill
On a cold Sunday afternoon, January 11, in west London, a large crowd of British, Ukrainian and Hong Kong people gathered to say goodbye to the first Hong Kong martyrs of the Ukrainian war. “I pay my
-
How the Irish Made Hong Kong Mark O'Neill
They provided nine of Hong Kong’s 28 governors, cured the city of tuberculosis, built and managed schools that have transformed the lives of tens of thousands of its people and won four Olympic
-
HK people in UK fear new immigration rules Mark O'Neill
Hong Kong migrants to Britain have launched a nationwide lobbying campaign to protect their future after the government published proposals to narrow their path to citizenship. Since 2021, 160,000
-
Does Age Matter in Politics? Michael Chugani
Getting old can be depressing. Some people try to hide it with plastic surgery or cosmetics. Others accept that old age is a fact of life. It is true that some age faster than others, either
-
Should HK limit overtourism? Michael Chugani
Driving south from Seattle in the US west coast state of Washington to the neighboring state of Oregon offers a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean. My family and I did that most summers when I
