Susan Shirk's Fragile Superpower

China is both a threat and an opportunity for Australia. Trade and security concerns have both negatives and positives towards Australia’s relations with the Asian ‘superpower’. In recent years we have seen how the relations between Australia and China have changed, through their radically different traditions. This has led to the idea that China is a great resource for trade, it has also led to the idea that China is a large threat to Australia’s security. This essay will discuss the rapid growth of China in recent years compared to Australia’s growth, but also the increasing threat level China poses, and finally the bursts of opportunity China gives to Australia. Overall there is arguments for both sides, China is both a threat and an opportunity

China has reached a milestone in terms of achieving its centenarian goal of making China a prosperous nation once again. One of the ways that it has done this is by having steady economic growth even in the midst of an economic crisis. Not only has China’s economy grown, but its standard of living has also improved, it has achieved this by spending 70 percent of its fiscal revenue towards improving people’s standard of living. China has also pushed more anti-corruption reforms and has made efforts towards widening its economy by setting up freer trade.

I visited China about a year ago, however everything I saw was discussed by Magdoff and Foster in what Every Environmentalist Needs to Know about Capitalism. The intense pollution is enough to make the citizens stay inside for the day, as we here in Colorado might for a snow day. The sights witnessed there is sound evidence that support Magdoff and Fosters argument that capitalism is the primary driving force behind environmental degradation. An explorative journalistic piece by NBC’s 60 minutes Lesley Stahl, revealed that there are currently multi-billion dollar cities being built in China that are completely vacant. China’s massive economic growth can be attributed to policies set forth by the Chinese government some years ago. The Chinese wanted to, ‘catch up with the world, “20 years in a day.” Their ability to actually live up to this goal shows that their government highly values economic growth and will do anything to support it, even at the cost of the environment. This example of the Chinese government is reflective of how most of the world values economic growth, though extreme. Because, no country wants to be in a recession, it is bad for the people causing deep strife in the balance between the environment and economic growth. This paper will utilize the writings of Magdoff and Foster to contend that the way we think about economic growth is harmful to our environment. Additionally this paper will argue that violence is the often necessary for an ideal

Throughout most of history, East Asia and more specifically China has been the cradle of civilization. Only until a few hundred years ago did China and most of the developing world today regress into the states they have been for the past several hundred years. For the past 100 years the US has been the world’s most powerful country, economically, militarily, and culturally; however China is resurging and is now in a position that is equal and perhaps greater to the US’s power.

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

Today I will be talking about three things. First, I will talk about how China became unstable and then vulnerable because of political reasons. Secondly, I will talk about how China became unstable because of social reasons, and finally, I will talk about how it became unstable for economic reasons. I believe that it has China’s instability has always been a part of their identity, but as a result, it has caused problems like becoming vulnerable and not being able to control internal breakouts.

China’s rise has been discussed as a remarkable affair for years, and now China is ready to become another superpower. In a book, “What Does China Think?” by Mark Leonard, the battle of ideas in China is being introduced and shown to the readers; many opinions and assertions on Chinese reforms within economic and political perspectives are being discussed to find ways that China should pursue. The author conjures up that China has grown into a huge economic power, exemplifying the numerous amount of Chinese products which are labeled with ‘Made in China’. However, the author also deals with problems that China is confronting; the author includes ‘Yuanmingyan’, a symbolic embodiment of China’s historical

Liu's (2012) article for Time magazine, entitled, "Why China's Rise is Great for America" was triggered by his having encountered a book called Becoming China's Bitch. Liu (2012) expected a "xenophobic rant" about the "sinister, relentless yellow horde" but instead read "a squishy pile or moderate policy recommendations," (p. 1). The topic of China's economic power and its relationship to America's dwindling political and economic clout is one of the most topically relevant. Liu (2012) talks about America's "profound problems" including a "faltering educational and physical infrastructure," (p. 1). China has its own problems, notes Liu (2012). Both countries are now enmeshed in a codependent or mutually interdependent, to put a positive spin on it relationship. The author notes that whereas once the discourse included fearful references to the Communist threat; that now the literature is filled with talk about the decline of the USA.

Yet several specters haunt China. To continue economic growth, China’s economy will have to fundamentally shift away from its current orientation toward exports and grow based on its own consumption. Other structural challenges, from taxes and regulation to intellectual property and the rule of law, all must be reformed if China’s economic growth is to continue. China’s leaders will also have to manage an unprecedented level of urbanization, with an expected 400 million new urban residents by 2050. Just as daunting, China’s population is rapidly ageing, which will become a tremendous economic challenge given the effects of China’s One Child Policy and its Bachmann-beloved lack of a Social Security program. Beyond economic and demographic challenges,

China faces problems as they depend on energy importation. It is likely that their trend for dependence will continue to increase, and as such, this leads to added problems as with the increased urbanization and more industrialization that follows suit. Meaning that the country’s energy consumption will increase, and at the same time become more vulnerable to the disruptions that are likely to occur in the supply of energy. This highlights the precarious nature of the Chinese economy, as well as their heavy dependence on economic integration and interconnectivity. This also means that the country is exposed to the geopolitics that exists in the region, and as such it becomes a challenge, as they cannot control the supply that comes in (Marketos 2009, p. 12). The security over resources is considered a political issue, and this leads to many factors coming to play that might affect the supply and demand that exists in the ever-changing market.

In this essay, I will argue that China 's rise should not be welcomed and that it should be feared instead. This is because China 's status as one of the world 's most powerful nation will make it seek to establish hegemony within Asia, and eventually dominate the world as the sole hegemony. The USA and China 's neighbouring countries will try to stop China 's pursuit of hegemony in Asia, and this could lead to intense security tension between two powerful countries, which can create a major war involving two nations with extraordinary military attributes. In this essay, I will be using offensive realist theory to predict results which will occur from China 's substantial growth.

China has recently adopted reforms that have allowed the people to benefit from a form of ‘capitalism’. Since China is such large economy, there may also have been some fear that

In the 21st century, the competition between diverse countries is increasing extremely intense. With the rise of the third world, as the biggest part of it, China’s influence in economy has become a controversial issue due to the prosperity of economy. To be more specific, China became the second-largest economy in 2011(McCurry,J and Kollewe J,2011).And in recent years, according the data in the bar chart below, China GDP’s is growing rapidly and the growth rate is staying between 7% and 8% before 2015. At the same time, because of the development of economic globalization, the relationship between different countries is getting closer and closer, especially in the world trade. Therefore, although China has already slowed down the step to

The grand strategy that was crafted, the Peaceful Development policy, was aimed at ensuring that China rose to its full potential in its contribution to the world’s total economic output. It articulated a set of fundamental objectives that defined the national interest in terms of domestic goals and the relationship with the rest of the world (Buzan, 2014). It also aimed at tying those goals to the means by which the state and the society would make available. China’s grand strategy could be interpreted as a tactic of internal and external balancing. The internal balancing

Starting with China or Eastern Asia over the past three decades they have been able to grow economically at an expedient rate. China is a communist nation that has been able to trade with other nations because their politics are conservative and predictable. They have been able to rise up their middle class and are currently changing their system to be more charismatic and uncorrupt (Hill, 2015). From the outside China appears to be a stable nation, but from the inside things are changing as more citizens a re wanting to change the current political system. They have been able to experience great growth but recently the people have seen stagnation in the economy, and believe a change in political power as a solution to keep moving forward as a strong competitor on the global market (Chang, 2014). China is currently very strong and this may change in the upcoming year, that is why the United Nations