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China: The world’s next superpower
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It’s an article of faith to many here in this land of ours that America is the number one nation on Earth, the last superpower to stand astride the global interplay of politics and economics. We were raised to think that way, our media helps shape that impression in numerous ways and to a certain extent, we are justified in thinking that because it is largely true.
But, just because its true now doesn’t mean it’ll stay true, which is why it is interesting to observe China and the fits many, many pundits seem to have over Chinas relationship with America. Pick an accusation: China artificially manipulates their currency, the yuan, the detriment of its trading partners; the government allows rampant piracy and intellectual theft to go unchecked, costing media companies and software firms billions; China has governmental policies, especially in regard to human rights, that are often considered barbaric.
There are many more to choose from, and its difficult to argue these things, because the Chinese government (not to be confused with its people) doesn’t go out of its way to deny them. Then again, they don’t have to.
What rubs these pundits the wrong way is the fact that China, right or wrong, is acting the way America does. I’m not talking about specific policies or events here; I’m talking about the unseen credo that American foreign policy has seemed to follow for decades, which is: We do what we want because we can.
Might make’s right, he who has the gold has the rules, the early bird gets the worm, and so on. China does what it does because it has one of the most booming economies ever, its a player in an increasing number of industries, it has a middle class larger than the total American population and it represents a well of potential intellectual, cultural, economic and otherwise that hasn’t been seen in the world since – well, us.
Every nation in the world knows China is the next superpower. No other single nation is in its league in terms of resources and possibilities, and the Chinese know this.
That’s one reason why the United States has a $200 billion trade deficit with China. That’s why Google and Yahoo, among others, are willing to overlook China’s less-than-forgiving censorship rules in order to do business there. That’s why China gets ‘Most Favored Nation’ trading status despite some awfully odd practices concerning their political prisoners, including the revival of accusations that they are using prisoners as unwilling organ donors.
Things have improved, though; China was suspected in the 1990s of botching executions intentionally to assure freshness. Now they’re just accused of harvesting after execution without gaining consent.
In any event, China has clout that is approaching ours, and although they don’t have the swagger yet, they have the will to use that clout. And that’s just not right say the pundits and the officials and the angry Americans who rail against China’s economic might, yet shop happily at Wal-Mart every week.
That kind of power belongs to America, and only America. But it doesn’t. We still have that clout, but now we have to share with the Middle Kingdom. It’ll be interesting to see how things shake out in the next few decades. We might not have to learn Mandarin any time soon, but it probably wouldn’t hurt.
Brandon Nolta
Opinion Writer
