Every time i watch the news the reporter are talking about china economy, chinese military and many other. some people say china is the rise of next superpower. some do not think that is possible b.c. china is overpopulated. it will costs fortune to take care all of them. tell me what do you think china will be the next superpower? and when will this day come ?
I think that the PRC would undoubtedly be the next super power simply because of the global economics involved. And despite the population question, it's a miscalculation to just look upon every Chinese mouth as a hungry mouth. Rather, every Chinese is a potential consumer. Take a look at US housing starts; why is this index so important? Because every time a house is built, it means jobs of all kinds. Manufacturers to create the building supplies and material; carpenters, electricians, plumbers, masons, et cetera, all have jobs. People then move into a new empty house that they then need to fill with new refrigerators, stoves, carpet, furniture, all of which needs to be manufactured. When these businesses pay their workers, the workers will spend their salaries on, guess what? All of the above. It becomes a self feeding cycle that drives economies. This was what made the US the greatest and most powerful nation on earth. With that in mind, how many people live in China? The potential consumer market there is ten times that of the greatest consumer market currently in existence in the history of the world, ie the United States. It may not be tomorrow, or next year, or even a decade from now. But the US as a global power is on the decline while the PRC is in on the move. Once they had realized that Mao's message of Marxist socialism was the bull crap that it was, and started down the road to capitalism (thank you Deng Xioa Peng!); China, in less than a generation, went from third world to cutting edge first world. That said, it still has a lot to do. The issue of individual rights and the "rule of law" (as opposed to the present "rule by law") is something that the PRC has to finally square away. One of the unfortunate relics of Mao's stewartship was the total conversion of the capitalist system for a de facto system of influence and corruption. This was how things were done before, such that persistent malfeasance by government officials or people in authority is what's holding China back (just take a look at the recent milk scandal). Also, China needs to divest itself of regional military headaches, that is, Tibet and Xinjiang. These areas need to be made autonomous but highly dependent and friendly to China. Sending in armed troops to crush uprisings all the time means an eternal attitude of colonialism. The PRC may think that those areas are a part of China, but the inhabitants will consider China to be a colonial occupyer. Not the best way to win hearts and minds. Additionally a delicate political problem is if one followed up the chain of corruption, it may well wind up throwing out 90 percent of the Chinese communist party's rolls. Not a pleasant thought for this single party nation. So despite the obvious nature of it, no Chinese leader to date yet has enough courage to touch this 800 pound political gorilla. Time will tell, but China will probably rise to ascendency and stay there for the next hundred to few hundred years (if historic trends hold, and if it can get its house in order).
What ralph has stated is very true, China has been catching up to the US and rather fast, the US has been growing and been the #1 superpower for a very long time and they have been able to be because of the industrial revloution taken place way back when, where was China in this loop? even by the end of WW2 and up to the 70's china was still under developed as compared to Europe, But in the present China has changed a great deal and have at least now been recognized as the potential next super power, which will undoubtfully happen.
Why wasn't China in this industrial revolution loop when the rest of the world was? In one word: Mao. The self serving bastard was more concerned with keeping himself in power than allowing the country to progress. The best thing he ever did for China in his whole reign was dying.
^ lol it was a rather rhetorical question -sweat but yes luckily now China is able to take necessary steps to develop into a powerful nation
