The People's Republic of China receives continual coverage in the popular press of its emerging superpower status,[14][15] and has been identified as a rising or emerging economic growth and military superpower by academics and other experts. In fact, the "rise of China" has been named the top news story of the
21st century by the
Global Language Monitor, as measured by number of appearances in the global print and electronic media, on the
Internet and blogosphere, and in social media.[16][17][18][19][20] The term "
Second Superpower" has been applied by scholars to the possibility that the
People's Republic of China could emerge with global power and influence on par with the
United States.[21] The potential for the two countries to form stronger relations to address global issues is sometimes referred to as the
Group of Two.
Barry Buzan asserted in 2004 that "China certainly presents the most promising all-round profile" of a potential superpower
.[22] Buzan claimed that "China is currently the most fashionable potential superpower and the one whose degree of alienation from the dominant international society makes it the most obvious political challenger." However, he noted this challenge is constrained by the major challenges of development and by the fact that its rise could trigger a counter coalition of states in
Asia.[citation needed]
Parag Khanna stated in 2008 that by making massive trade and investment deals with
Latin America and
Africa, China had established its presence as a superpower along with the
European Union and the United States.
China's rise is demonstrated by its ballooning share of trade in its gross domestic product. He believed that
China's "consultative style" had allowed it to develop political and economic ties with many countries including those viewed as rogue states by the United States. He stated that the
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation founded with
Russia and the
Central Asian countries may eventually be the "
NATO of the
East".[23]
Economist and author of
Eclipse:
Living in the
Shadow of China's Economic
Dominance Arvind Subramanian argued in
2012 that China will direct the world's financial system by
2020 and that the
Chinese renminbi will replace the dollar as the world's reserve currency in 10 to 15 years.
The United States' soft power will remain longer. He stated that "China was a top dog economically for thousands of years prior to the
Ming dynasty. In some ways, the past few hundred years have been an aberration."[24]
Lawrence Saez at the
School of
Oriental and
African Studies,
London, argued in
2011 that the United States will be surpassed by China as military superpower within twenty years. Regarding economic power, the
Director of the China
Center for Economic
Reform at
Peking University Yao
Yang stated that "Assuming that the
Chinese and
U.S. economies grow, respectively, by 8% and 3% in real terms, that China's inflation rate is 3.6% and
America's is 2% (the averages of the last decade), and that the renminbi appreciates against the dollar by 3% per year (the average of the last six years), China will become the world's largest economy by 2021. By that time, both countries'
GDP will be about $24 trillion."[25]
Historian Timothy Garton Ash argued in 2011, pointing to factors such as the
International Monetary Fund predicting that China's GDP (purchasing power parity adjusted) will overtake that of the United States in 2016, that a power shift to a world with several superpowers was happening "Now". However, China was still lacking in soft power and power projection abilities and had a low GDP/person. The article also stated that the
Pew Research Center in a 2009 survey found that people in 15 out of 22 countries believed that China had or would overtake the US as the world's leading superpower.[26]
In an interview given in 2011,
Singapore's first premier,
Lee Kuan Yew, stated that while China supplanting the United States is not a foregone conclusion,
Chinese leaders are nonetheless serious about displacing the United States as the most powerful country in Asia. "They have transformed a poor society by an economic miracle to become now the second-largest economy in the world. How could they not aspire to be number 1 in Asia, and in time the world?"[27]
The Chinese strategy, Lee maintains, will revolve around their "huge and increasingly highly skilled and educated workers to out-sell and out-build all others."[28]
Nevertheless, relations with the United States, at least in the medium term, will not take a turn for the worse because China will "avoid any action that will sour up relations with the U.S. To challenge a stronger and technologically superior power like the U.S. will abort their 'peaceful rise.'"[28] Though Lee believes China is genuinely interested in growing within the global framework the United States has created, it is biding its time until it becomes strong enough to successfully redefine the prevailing political and economic order.[29]
- published: 22 Apr 2016
- views: 2470