It seems fairly clear to me that China succeeded by inviting foreign investors in, offering them a good deal and keeping them on a tight leash. The last is a big "and".
You can contrast China's relative success to the failure of Mexican Maquiladoras. By allowing US companies to set-up shop in fashion that involved no commitment, no building of infrastructure and no requirements to keep capital in the country, Mexico opened itself up for the situation of today, where US companies in Mexico are closing shop and moving to ... China.
Edit: China also had the luxury of being so big a market that many investors have the "I can't afford not to be there" mentality. I'm not sure if any other country could duplicate that now.
Failure of Maquiladoras? Could you explain this statement?
As far as I know, Mexico has more or less continually grown since NAFTA, and Maquiladoras play an important role in their economy. They certainly are facing competition from much less wealthy countries (like China), but so is everyone else in the industrialized world.
Mexico has other problems that obscure any direct comparison. Government corruption in Mexico is a big factor as well as having the US on it border providing better opportunity plus the war on drugs.
You can contrast China's relative success to the failure of Mexican Maquiladoras. By allowing US companies to set-up shop in fashion that involved no commitment, no building of infrastructure and no requirements to keep capital in the country, Mexico opened itself up for the situation of today, where US companies in Mexico are closing shop and moving to ... China.
Edit: China also had the luxury of being so big a market that many investors have the "I can't afford not to be there" mentality. I'm not sure if any other country could duplicate that now.