Is China Ready to be the Next Super Power?
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China is bursting with explosive energy. But can they sustain their extra ordinary economic performance?
China has over 1.3 billion population. This number excludes other Chinese nationals who permanently migrated in other parts of the globe. In fact, you can see various versions of “China-town” communities sprouting from one country to another. If all Chinese people around the world will jump simultaneously it will probably cause an earthquake. Kidding aside, China indeed invaded our global economy. You can see China-made products in every shelf of a supermarket and all aisle of a department store. In fact, China’s international trade activities (imports and exports) now accounts to 40% of their GDP. China’s foreign exchange revenues went as high as $ 1.4 trillion, the largest in the world.
Because of their huge population and cheap labor, international companies are flooding their country with imported raw materials which are being used by China-based manufacturers in the production of consumer products. No wonder consumption is also high in China. They are now the world’s top consumer of steel, copper and jewelry. In terms of oil consumption, they are now second next to the United States.
In terms of internet population, they already surpassed the United States; there are more than 240 million internet users in China. They are also the largest mobile phone users with 600 million subscriptions next to India.
Aside from its economic miracle, China also made history when they successfully hosted the 2008 Olympics. Mega-structures were built as early as 2004 in preparation of this historic event. As a result, Beijing now includes The Nest (Olympic Stadium), The Water Cube (National Swimming Center), The National Grand Theater and The Beijing International Airport as part of their list of man-made wonders next to the Great Wall of China.
Despite these wonderful achievements, China also made some unforgettable booboos that changed global consumers’ perception on China-made products particularly milk and toy products. Their export products are continuously being criticized by neighboring countries and are being tagged as “cheap quality” products.
China is indeed bursting with explosive energy. But the big question is: Can they sustain their extra ordinary economic performance? Will China overtake the United States as the next super power? We will see in the coming years ahead…
10 Comments
Interesting! Let’s just see what happens next.
nice article! to be the next super power then China should be very careful with their relationship with other nations.
I think that China’s emmergence as a super power is a testiment to what greed and self-centeredness has done to the western cultures. We keep demanding higher wages, more government handouts, less labour, and a higher standard of living. By accepting lower wages, and because of a less self-centered work ethic, the Chinese workers have brought prosperity to their nation – the way that our grandparents and great-grandparents worked hard to bring prosperity here.
On the other hand – if China becomes a super power with the present attitude toward human rights, we could be in for quite a different world.
It is an interesting article but it has an incomplete feeling to it. Maybe if you talked a little more about how they are almost a supre power, how they got there or just some more details it would have a little more power to it.
Michelle
Good question and good point. Well done, Joshua
Very interesting! Whether China becomes a superpower or not still remains to be seen. Their laxity in implementing product safety and their human rights record are certainly obstacles to their hope of achieving world dominance.
Nice article. i do agree with Eddie.
Nice article. The infrastructural development in China is great, awesome, no words to say. Now the trouble. What do you think about the ‘China baby milk scandal’ which already affected 13000 innocent babies. Joshua Miguel, please Answers this.
Interesting.
Do you realise that the design/engineering innovation of the Water Cube came out of Australia? Just a side note I thought you might like. It was based around the concept of soap bubbles.
The world works on a curve, so do nations. China is on a favorable point on its curve, The U.S.A. is not, India is nearer the bottom of its curve, expect greatness in the future there. The Western World is mostly Yankee Doodle P.R. The rest of the world manages quite well, without B.S. The decline of the dollar and the emigration of American, especially Republican States, Uber-Rich family capital, a significant sign of the times! Life will change for the whole world now, with the absorption of the American Capitalist’s Capital into the Shanghai market, where it is only a small player among many giants. The world has changed.