Brave

 New  China:  A  Threat  for  the  West?  

China is the emerging and awakening economic powerhouse of the twenty-first century. After

many years of political and social problems, the most populated country on the globe was able

to climb up the ladder of success and became the world’s forth-largest economy within only

two decades. To the dislike of the United States, China still enjoys an authoritarian regime

and “apparently” does not play by the rules imposed by the USA and other world leaders.

Furthermore, China is becoming a leader in technology and innovation, and many fear that it

might become a strategic rival of the biggest economy, the USA. Even though it faces major

problems, such as regional imbalances, pollution, and corruption, is the steep rise of China a

threat for the West?

China’s rise was initiated in 1978 by Mao Zedong’s successor, Dang Xiaoping, the

father of modern China. Dang Xiaoping made two critical statements that changed China’s

image. One statement was, “it doesn’t matter whether a cat is black or white, as long as it

catches the mice.” This statement is pragmatic rather than based on communist ideology.

What he meant was, it does not matter how a country achieves its goals, as long as it

succeeds. Out of that statement comes the line, “socialism with Chinese characteristics”,

meaning to create capitalism the Chinese way. Dang Xiaoping’s second statement was, “to

get rich is glorious”, showing again his sympathy for capitalism. China then started to build

its economy after economic reforms without major political changes. The government has

used its power to allocate resources effectively, has engaged in fostering the entrepreneurial

power of its people, and it has learned from the mistakes that Japan and the “Four Asian

Tigers”, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong, had made.

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 One mistake many people still make, is to consider China the largest exporter in the

world. According to the Muhan University in China, the world’s largest WTO study school,

China is the third-largest exporter, having surpassed Japan in 2005. The USA and Germany

still rank number one and two in the world trade economy. Therefore, China is not

dominating the world market yet, even though it is safe to assume it will in the future. The

West has engaged in “China-bashing”, because many leading economies can only generate a

growth of 2-3% or lower, whereas China grew between 8 and 10% every year for the past

decade. This, of course, makes other economies jealous, and starts debates about problematic

issues within China.

Since the end of World War 2, the USA has been pushing its agenda and has been

imposing free markets and democracy to every upcoming economy in the world. Japan was

the big player thanks to the US hegemony after World War 2 and after that, a time of Japan-

bashing started, because the USA was scared of Japanese companies who could possibly take

over America. After the real estate bubble and the Asian financial crises, Japan faced serious

economic problems and one US rival was tamed. Now it is China’s turn to grow and become

a serious rival.

It is a fact that almost every cheap product you can buy in the West is made in China.

Cheap labor and low environmental restrictions make it possible for companies to

manufacture their goods at lowest costs in Chinese factories. That is why most companies

outsource to the “land of the middle”. Even Wal-Mart was able to expand to East Asia and

opened its thirty-ninth store within China in 2005, with ten thousands of customers per store

shopping day in day out. This reflects not only the Chinese attitude of low-cost production,

but also their economy becoming more and more consumer driven.

With more consumption, more waste is generated and the environment suffers.

Chinese metropolises are among the most polluted cities in the world and there are not many

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signs that the situation will change in the near future. In recent years, the government stated

its fear of not having enough money to fund and provide healthcare to everyone in the future,

something that was guaranteed in Communist China. With an increasing pollution, China will

have to take care of an increasing amount of people getting ill because of environmental

pollution. This will lead to more healthcare spending and a displeased population.

A larger consumption also reflects China’s growing middleclass. People in urban areas

are now able to buy computers, expensive Swiss watches, cars, and brand clothes. They

admire Shanghai-born NBA star Yao Ming, who lives the American dream for 1.3 billion

Chinese, and they do not want to think about the majority of Chinese, who are living in rural

areas below “new” Chinese standards. The gap between the rural and urban areas grows wider

and wider. According to the May 15/May 22, 2006, Newsweek article ‘Down on the farm’,

written by Melinda Liu and Jonathan Ansfield, it is easier to sell real estate in Chinese cities

than in the Chinese countryside, where incomes are low and farmers are granted only thirty

year right-of-use leases [whereas seventy years are granted in the cities]. This lack of private-

property-rights hurts rural residents. Corrupt government officials, who chase away people

from their land to pass the property to industries, do not help at all to close that gap. The

central government offered to eliminate agricultural taxes, improve rural healthcare, and grant

free primary-school education. These are not countermeasures to stop the gap from widening,

but it will slow down the process. Experts say, farmers should be granted the rights to buy,

sell, and mortgage their land, in order to boost rural incomes. This is a real necessity, because

in 2005, 849 million Chinese living in rural areas had a per capita income of $400, while the

average Chinese income was about $1,300. This is the worst income imbalance in the modern

history of China, and it can lead to riots and demonstrations by farmers, as we were able to

witness in recent years. The trend is that demonstrations are turning out to be more violent to

the dislike of the world community.

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 The “4th generation” of leaders, Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, brought an ideological

change to China with their “three represents”. They say that the Communist Party represents

(1) an advanced mode of productivity, (2) the most advanced cultures, (3) the majority of the

population. If the leaders really hold on to their promises, they would work towards the needs

and rights of the people mentioned in point three and provide everything that is needed for the

Chinese majority—residents in rural areas—to have a livable life.

All eyes are on China because the West fears it will become a hegemonic power. Two

decades ago, many feared the same about Japan and nobody would ever think about raising

this very subject in a conversation today. There has been an overreaction about China. China

is not a menace. The dangerous thing would be the failure of China. Over the past twenty

years, the USA and the European Union have encouraged China to join the world trading

system for their own benefit and now that China is gaining economic and diplomatic power,

narrow-minded economists claim that this might be the beginning of a new cold war era.

As stated by Newsweek’s John Sparks, “the United States is not pleased by the fact

that China has become the superpower buddy of choice for many repressive governments

whose countries are rich in natural resources.” Furthermore, he mentions that China has a $70

billion natural-gas contract with Iran, invested $1 billion for oil in Venezuela, and owns 40%

of Sudan’s oil infrastructure. All of this is a crucial necessity for China, because its economy

needs an enormous amount of resources. China has gained recognition of these countries,

because it does not want to play the moral apostle, like the USA does; China just wants to

conduct business and not interfere with any kind of internal or international disputes. Another

good example for China’s nonjudgmental attitude is its relationship with Zimbabwe’s

President Robert Mugabe. Many countries consider Mugabe a “persona non grata”, but China

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recognizes him as a democratic elected president and consumes with much pleasure

Zimbabwe’s coal and platinum.

China is busy keeping its internal problems as mellow as possible that it does not have

time and energy to cause major international problems. Taiwan is a “hot” issue between the

USA and China. Taiwan’s first pro-independence president Chen Shui-bian has tested

Beijing’s patience since his election in 2000, and Washington has kept an eye on the mainland

and the island, making sure the water does not start boiling on the mainland’s shore. This

issue might be history in 2008 when the next presidential elections will be held in Taiwan.

Kuomintang leader Ma Ying-jeou, who is also the mayor of Taipei, is favored to win the

elections. Since his party is interested in stronger ties with the mainland and a possible

unification, Hu Jintao might be confident about having the “Taiwan problem” solved soon

without any foreign help.

China became an economic powerhouse within two decades but it is still in the process

of development. Problems such as corruption and immense state-owned enterprises still have

to be “grabbed by the horns”, but in such a large country, it cannot happen over night. China

is still learning from other countries and will have to try different approaches. It has proven

that socialism with Chinese characteristics can work and can produce heavy growth with an

increasing standard of living for everyone. Even though inhabitants in rural areas are still not

enjoying all the wealth residents in urban areas are enjoying, their standard of living increased

since 1978. The only unknown variable in the formula is the largesse of China’s wealth. Will

it ever be able to spread the wealth among urban and rural areas? The People’s Republic of

China is the fourth largest country in area with a territory that extends over 9.6 million square

kilometers and has a population of 1.3 billion people. It will be a difficult undertaking to

spread the wealth among all of its inhabitants.

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 China will never be able to please all Chinese. The country is too large and too

populated to make the right decisions for everyone. Even though China has delegated

authority to local officials, it worsened the situation. The new generation of Chinese must be

able to enjoy the best basic education, in order for them to grow with a good understanding of

what is right and what is needed in China. This will lead to changes in the society. Corruption

might then be seen as an evil that needs to be scrutinized and abolished by common sense, as

well as infringements of human rights. Unfortunately, these changes may take two

generations or more, but China is on the right track.

Thirty years ago, no one would have thought that China would ever turn west and try

to become a global player. Dang Xiaoping initiated the reforms for a new Chinese economy;

in the late 1980s, Jiang Zeming and Zhu Rongji started opening China to world markets, and

now, Hu Jintao and Wen Jiaobao are creating a multipolar world that proves, that there is not

only one model for development and democracy. China is not a threat to the West and it is

playing by the rules set by the leading economies. The West made it possible for China to

become what it is today, the factory of the world.

What we are witnessing right now in China is one of the most interesting social

experiments ever made. Time will show that the experiment will turn out to be successful and

a good point of reference for the world community, because the world is a magnet and every

magnet needs at least two poles.

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