Essay Factors Keeping China From Becoming Today's Super Power

• China’s inroads into Africa come at the expense of Africa’s citizens. Says Bremmer, “The Chinese quid pro quo typically involves lots of Chinese content, lots of Chinese labor that they’re sending over to these countries to work, which hurts local unemployment issues. And of course, the availability of commodities, including food, to be exported to China. There’s sometimes a Faustian bargain in these countries.”

China remains a current world super power that has been around for thousands of years. It was one of the first civilizations ever created and it has evolved into an enormous country. China is a large territory, but only 10% of the land can be farmed on. This continues to be a tremendous problem, especially with the large population that mostly lives in rural areas. In the past China was seen as a fragile nation that was still stuck in the past, although after the Four Humiliations this began to change. The Four Humiliations were a group of events that forced China to modernize due to the losses it faced. After the last of the four humiliations and the fall of the dynasty era during 1911, China began to catch up to the westernized world by modernizing their government, military, and education. The Chinese

The McDonald’s in Beijing created these trends because they used the same menu as the American counterpart. This increased business and attracted customers because they felt more modern eating the so-called “American cuisine.” The McDonald’s in Beijing is most definitely considered an example of an American-inspired, transnational culture because the Chinese are intrigued with the western influence and this does change their culture because they are becoming more modern and opening up to outside influences. With a positive view from China, McDonald’s decided to expand even more.

The program includes initiatives to bolster the national economy and gain global influence through exploiting natural resources, increased missile program, and development of a eugenics program to foster a greater generation (Lieberthal 3). The program is an attempt by China to become a world power by the end of the decade. While China has started developing these programs it is still necessary for them to build a large amount of infrastructure to become a global leader. People that worry about China’s comprehensive national power program fear a slow increase of China’s influence in global conflicts and economic presence. While a slow increase in China’s influence would change the global dynamic, America would remain as a global power. However if war with China and a large selloff of American debt, China would quickly rise to as a global power by reducing America’s economic stability. War with China and a selloff of United States debt would create drastic changes in American stability, and should be of greater concern than China’s comprehensive national power

The rise in China from a poor, stagnant country to a major economic power within a time span of twenty-eight years is often described by analysts as one of the greatest success stories in these present times. With China receiving an increase in the amount of trade business from many countries around the world, they may soon be a major competitor to surpass the U.S. China became the second largest economy, last year, overtaking Japan which had held that position since 1968 (Gallup). China could become the world’s largest economy in decades.

The current Status Quo is complete US political and military domination in the South-China Sea, United States dominated and dictated trade deals, and unipolarity of hegemonic power (Beckley 2011) All of which, if China desires to grow its power, must challenge.

The China Boom: Why China Will Not Rule the World, by Ho-fung Hung. New York: Columbia University Press, 2016.

For the past century, Chinese society has felt a compulsive desire to develop at breakneck speeds. In pursuing development, China’s primary goal has been to display its sophistication to the world, rather than to directly aid the welfare of its citizens. Following this hierarchy of objectives, China has continued to relentlessly modernize despite enormous negative consequences; the development powered through famine during the Great Leap Forward, violence during the Cultural Revolution, and economic dislocation during liberalization, accepting negative consequences as bearable burdens on the path to global renown. Ignoring these issues, China has proven itself more responsive to international views of modernity than to immediate national

It’s as though China is in a social time warp, in many aspects, as compared to the United States. A clear example of this time warp is the lack of affirmative action in China. Policy still practiced in China was eliminated in the U.S. more than 50 years ago. For example, certain jobs in China are reserved specifically for women. Statistics prove this, it’s communicated by employers, and it’s understood in their society. No one challenges it.

In his article, “The Future of the Liberal World Order”, John Inkenberry discusses what he sees as a global shift in power, from the Western and Northern powers such as the United States and Great Britain to the more Eastern and Southern developing states like China, India and Brazil. This potential shift in power has sparked a fear in many people. This fear, as the global power switches from West to East and North to South, stems from the thinking that these new nations that are coming to power will abolish the liberal world order that we all know. I however believe that instead of challenging the United States for power and changing the world order to more reflect their ideologies, these emerging nations will instead seek a greater position of leadership in the already existing world order. Firstly, I will provide an argument of Inkenberry’s main arguments and why realists’ have started to worry. Second, I will show how China is rising to threaten the United States superpower position in today’s world order, and finally I will illustrate ways which show that China is not challenging the Liberal World Order and why.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has become more integrated and willing to cooperate within the global political and economic systems than ever in its history. However, there is growing apprehension in the Asia-Pacific region and the U.S. in regards to the consequences of rising in economic and military power in China. Descriptions about Chinese diplomacy in the policy and scholarly are less positive lately concerning China’s obedience to regional and international rules. There was little debate in the U.S. and elsewhere in regards to whether China was or was not part “the international community.” Scholars and experts in the early 1990s have contended

In the current anarchic world, The United States acts as the global hegemon. However, China’s recent rise to power has lead international relations experts, Ikenberry, Mearsheimer, Subramanian, and Friedberg, to predict an upcoming power shift in the international system. China’s increasing control over the Asia-Pacific region has threatened U.S. power. According to Waltz, the realism paradigm interprets the anarchic structure of the international community, as a constant power struggle. Although each country may be different, to survive, they must all strive for power. Under the liberalism paradigm, the system is still anarchical but cooperation may be achieved by shared norms, and aligned political and economical interests.

While relations with China are not in themselves a recent phenomenon, the extensive amount of trade that the two partake in is. Actually, the affiliation between China and Africa stretches back centuries. Some scholars try to establish the starting point based on “the discovery of ancient Chinese ceramics on the east coast of Africa, or to the trading ties begun under the Song dynasty” (Raine 13). Trying to trace ties back this far is important in increasing a sense of loyalty. After all, people tend to have stronger feelings of fidelity towards someone they have known for years, as compared to someone they have just met. Another frequently cited encounter is when the Chinese explorer Zheng He “reached the east coast of Africa where…Zheng came, saw and never conquered…[leaving only a legacy] of trade, stimulating a local market for Chinese silk and porcelain” (Raine 13). This incident is important in further establishing solidarity between the two nations. China refers to this history to prove “it has interacted commercially without further agenda and without detriment to Africa” (Raine 14). It uses this point to relate to Africa – they are both Third World nations that have faced oppression from the First World, and therefore need to stick together.

In the recent years, China has had a growing presence in the African continent, engaging in trades, delivering aid and initiating projects. China’s involvement in Africa is something that has triggered very animated debates among students and scholars. Many hypotheses as to China’s intentions have been presented. Is China really the solution to Africa’s underdevelopment or simply for its own political and economical interests? This essay will present a more pessimistic view on this whole situation arguing the very dangers and consequences of China’s relationship with Africa. Not only does China worsen the countries’ economic conditions by triggering high levels of inflation and unemployment but it also represent a new form of colonialism

This movement tremendously influenced all aspects of China’s burgeoning consumer behavior and culture. This time also saw the branding of commodities as either “foreign” or “Chinese” with the consumption of the foreign branded products being discouraged in favor of the local ones. It was at this time that the ambitious desire of China to create its own national brand in nearly everything it produces emerged. It surfaced from this time that the consumer behavior was more of a nationalized one, in which the government dictated everything that was being consumed by the public.