China Will Be the Next Global Superpower - Research Paper Example

?China – The next global Superpower Introduction As the United s firm hold on being the current sole holder of the Superpower wanes the possibility that U.S. will be joined or perhaps even surpassed as a superpower by anther nation is of great interest. China becomes a prime candidate for this race exclusively on the basis of the presence of several factors. With the growing strength not just of China’s resources but also their economic wealth along with their impressive population size, military strength and their possession of sophisticated nuclear armaments China is well on its way towards becoming the next global superpower in the world. Defining a Superpower When we look at the generic use of the term ‘super power’, the term refers to those selective states with power. Power in this perspective is defined by a series of prominent variables put together. These could be economic wealth, population size, military strength, and the possession of sophisticated nuclear armaments. Alice Lyman Miller, a professor at the National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School defines a super power in the following words “a country that has the capacity to project dominating power and influence anywhere in the world, and sometimes, in more than one region of the globe at a time." A super power comprises of four components that are dominant over all other qualifying elements; Military, economic, political and cultural. Hegemony, a Greek term for leadership plays a critical role in paving way for this supremacy. It is the ability to dictate policies of other nations. If we look back towards Roman and British empires this feat was accomplished by brute force. Germany attempted to benefit from it in the late 1930s and Russia’s efforts to work at it never really succeeded in the global sense. China however is often looked upon as regionally hegemonic. The U.S. achieved hegemony not just through sheer military might but through economic, political and cultural influence – factors that many perceive are diminishing now. A few years back, the presidential hopeful Ron Paul echoed what many analysts perceive: The "dollar hegemony" — U.S. currency's strength and attractiveness — has been a key factor in U.S. dominance, but "our dollar dominance is coming to an end." And China has become a great power in a "spectacular" rise over the past two decades (Miller). China China is one of the earliest recorded human settlements in the world with nearly 4000 years of continuous history. It covers an Area of 16,800 square kilometers and has a population of about $1.37 billion. It is a communist state and its GDP is about $ 4.99 Trillion. Its currency is the Yuan and the capital of China is Beijing (China facts, web). China's population of 1.3 billion renders it the most populous nation on earth, accounting for a fifth of the world's population; while at almost 10 million square kilometers it is the third largest country after Russia and Canada. Its 2.25 million troops form the world's largest armed force. China's reputation as a major military power is crowned by the possession of nuclear weapons that are capable of all ranges and delivery modes. Economically, it is the world's fourth largest trading nation, having risen from 32nd in 1978 and 10th in 1997. Its GDP at 13% of world output (at purchasing power parity) is second to the US. China, inheritor of 5,000 years of civilization, is also the world's fastest developing economy in the present age, having grown an average of 9.5% annually for the past 20 years. Such high growth rates, low labor costs and a huge emerging market, have attracted the world's highest levels of foreign direct investment. Since China joined the World Trade Organization in December 2001, it has also become one of the most open economies in the developing world, with average tariffs dropping from 41% in 1992 to 6% after accession to WTO. China’s education system Despite the economic, military and political growth of China its education system due to the presence of the huge discrepancy between its rural and urban area’s is by far one of its greatest causes of concern. Its inequality is such that the urban incomes are three times that of the rural incomes and the rural western provinces are falling behind urbanizing coastal provinces. If this social and regional segregation isn’t enough of a cause of concern we can view the graveness of the situation simply by viewing the fact that the educational gap is so prevalent by view of statistics. More than 70 percent of students from China's major cities go to college whereas less than 5 percent of students from poor rural areas do. Why we might wonder does this inequality exist? To understand we must view the poor way in which the education system was run in the past that has affected its current state so negatively. Poverty prevails in the rural household settings and with the high tuition rates, fees, books and other academic expenses the share that rural households could devote to education was predominantly low. Being poor, many could only afford the most minimal level of education. Furthermore decentralization in post-Mao China widened regional gaps in the provision of basic education. Today the government started centralized spending projects on rural education, which have signi?cantly narrowed the urban-rural gap in education spending. A ensure that the regular operation of the grassroots state and the need of rural compulsory education is fulfilled, the national finance has arranged an expenditure of Y103 billion ($12 billion) every year for their educational reforms (Guo, 2011). Furthermore the implementation of the K-9 rural education program the government is committed to changing this situation and tackling this education gap with great sincerity. Tuition fees are eliminated, books are free of cost and efforts are undertaken to upgrade hardware and software of rural schools. The rate of expansion is unprecedented anywhere in the world. The goal of China's top educators is to create the foundation for an innovative, challenging, and transformative system of higher education. However despite their increasing efforts changes do not take place overnight and this education gap had severely widened over the span of 50 years it was left unattended (REAP). China’s production and economy The emergence of China towards gradually moving towards the superpower status is largely due to its economic interactions. Its movements towards the acquisition of long term sources of oil, and the growth of China’s oil imports has made a noticeable impact on the gasoline prices that American consumer’s notice at the pump. In addition it is China’s huge trade surplus with the U.S. that has becoming the largest in American trading partner history, including Japan. Then there is the dramatic advancement in the heavy industries such as steel and shipbuilding, the largest China’s economy has made in the past two decades. Furthermore China’s low labor costs have effectively managed to acquire for the country the reputation of being the manufacturing hub of the world, contributing to the hollowing out of the traditional American manufacturing base. These important trends signal China’s arrival as a major player in the international economy and underscore China’s rise over the past 25 years as a competitor for world markets and resources. China is considered as one of the worlds’s industrialized economies. This is because of two main reasons; firstly its GDP totaled $1.159 trillion and ranked sixth in the world, behind France, Britain, Germany, Japan, and the United States ($10,065 trillion). For another thing, it is due to its growing importance of being a trading nation. China ranked ninth in 2003, supplying 3.5 percent f the world’s total exports. In comparison, the United States accounted for 14.7 percent of the world’s export volume, and the European Union accounted for 16.8 percent. China’s economic success can be seen as its economic growth rate, over the two decades after 1978, approached 10 percent annually. China’s population With just over 1.3 billion people (1,330,044,605 as of mid-2008), China is the world's most populous country. As the world's population is approximately 6.7 billion, China represents a full 20% of the world's population so one in every five people on the planet is a resident of China. China is now a global economic power; it has now surpassed Japan as the second largest single country economy in the world, (CIA). Its total GDP will eventually surpass the USA, however due to its enormous population China will suffer from a much lower GDP per capita. Even when China becomes the largest economic force in the world, it will still be relatively poor when compared to other major economies.  In line with the strategic goal of the nation's modernization drive and proceeding from national conditions, the Chinese Government has formulated and implemented a population policy which conforms to China's reality and has greatly contributed to the stabilization of the national and the world population and to the promotion of human development and progress. China has implemented the one child policy since 1979 which has slowed China’s population growth greatly and allowed it to regain a certain amount of control over the impending population issue. (Riley, 2004).  China’s resources China is a resourceful country. It numerous resources include coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, rare earth elements, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest) (CIA World Factbook). The rapid emergence of China as a major industrial power poses a complex challenge for the world's natural resource markets but it solidifies China’s standing as a superpower. American media have taken note of recent Chinese diplomacy in search of long-term sources of oil, and the growth of China’s oil imports has had an impact on gasoline prices that American consumers notice at the pump. On the demand side, Chinese appetite for vast amounts of energy and minerals puts tremendous strain on the international supply system. However the acquisition of these resources facilitates China’s quest to procure raw material and be able to sufficiently cater to high demand. Backed by the Chinese government, Chinese companies have been acquiring equity stakes in natural resource companies, extending loans to mining and petroleum investors, and writing long-term procurement contracts for oil and minerals. These activities might be a source of concern to international markets who view these efforts as China ‘locking up’ natural resource supplies and gaining ‘preferential access’ to available output, and extending ‘control’ over the world’s extractive industries but for good reason as these activities lay the basic foundation for China to establish firm footing in its potential to gain access and resources in order to be self sufficient and dominating (Silk, 2006). Conclusion So we have seen the way that the mere constitution of becoming a superpower is based firmly on 4 important pillars; economic strength, military might, political standing and cultural power. All of the four elements that China has artfully well on its way to mastering. Despite the presence of certain challenges in terms of education and rural inequality China is well on its way to effectively combating these challenges by preventative measures and the allocation of significant effort and funds to mitigate these issues. That being said China’s growing economic strength and their rapid acquisition of resources in addition to the ones that they already are in possession of make them a prime candidate for the position of superpower; one that cannot be taken lightly. References CIA World Factbook. Web. Retrieved from: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html Silk, Mitchell (2006), “Are Chinese Companies Taking Over the World?” Chicago Journal of International Law. Miller.L.A. (2005). A Superpower? No time soon. Hoover Digest. Retrieved from: http://www.hoover.org/publications/hoover-digest/article/7833 China facts. Web. Retrived from: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107411.html Riley.E.N. (2004). China’s Population: new trends and challenges. Population reference bureau. Rural Education Action Project. Standford University. Retrieved from: http://reap.stanford.edu/docs/about_REAP/ Guo.G. (2011). Persistent Inequalities in Funding for Rural Schooling in Contemporary China. Asian Survey, 47, 213 – 230. Read More