The United States Assuring National Stability While Maintaining an International Presence - Admission/Application Essay Example

Juggling Act: The United s assuring national stability while maintaining an international presence. The United sfor the past hundred years has been considered a strong military power in addition to having a strong national economy. In the past two decades however, China has began to rise in both military and economic strength. What once was a hegemonic power in the world, the United States has started to see an eroding by eastern ideology. China is not only able to manipulate the yen, but also able to hold control over the business sectors via way of the government. If the United States wants to regain both a strong economic foothold along with a continued international presence, China is the one country that the United States is going to collide with. With solid elements such as military, trade policies, and international presence all playing a part in a nation’s power in the world, it starts with soft power. China’s soft power is much better than the United States which means that unless the United States regains the soft power lost, the United States will have to find other methods to regain the power that is being taken by China as a world dominating country. While the soft power of China and America are at odds at times, there are also similarities and benefits. Although politically these countries are polar opposite, they do strive for similar ideals for their countries. China and the United States want some of the same things, such as allies, resources, and peace. China benefited the United States by calling for a capture of terrorists acting in South East Asia.1 At the same time however, China is very wary of the amount of United States forces that are based in Asia. It is not only the amount of forces that are based there, but also the extended length of time that is indicative of the current conflict outlook. China is concerned, rightly or wrongly, that when the United States is completed in the Middle East, the military aims might then include China. While there are some benefits to the similarities between the two countries soft power aims, there are also issues that the two countries are going to be against each other in. Resource management is a looming issue, as the demands for resources continue to rise and the supply is declining. While once the United States was the main importer of energy, China is quickly rising in the amount of energy that it needs each year. This is ultimately going to cause issues, that 50 years ago China might not have been able to have a chance. Now though, with an increase in soft power that translates to partnerships in times of need, China has the social avenues like never before. The only foreseeable concern with these increased alliances, China could begin to prod fellow Asia countries away from the United States.2 This could be potentially detrimental as the United States is pushing democracy while China is anti-democratic. China at this time has a large control over trade surplus in the world. The United States has due to economic and governmental reasons have failed to increase the trade deficit with China therefore increasing the need for Chinese imports. By using a graph of how trade and deficit are interconnected it is understandable that with the current political structures how China is able to have a trade surplus over the United States along with an increase in overall world economic dominance. China is able to manipulate the yen in such a way that no other country can compete for exports. This along with a strong control over workers wages always for a product far below that of any competitors. This gives China the ability to mass produce a product that is sold in many countries using materials acquired from allies and other countries that China assists economically or militarily. Understand that they have a monopoly on many products China has not only continued to cultivate foreign markets, but also have increased exporting while decreasing importing if possible. This is at times the polar opposite of what the United States is doing economically. John J. Mearsheimer’s theory of offensive realism states that individual states do not feel secure unless they have a hegemony discouraging another power from attempting to wrest away the gained power. The United States has had hegemony over the entire world in many aspects for a great deal of time. At the beginning Mearsheimer believed that there could be a country that held international power and therefore that country felt completely secure. He now believes that it is nay impossible for a country to hold international power but can hold hegemony over a region. In this situation the United States holds control over most of the western industrialized world while China holds power over the eastern countries and Africa. If the countries were not directly competing for countries to export, and if governmental differences were not there, the troubles may not exist. However there are very fundamental differences between the United States and China. Mearsheimer has a former officer in the United States army as viewed many of the policies that the United States has regarding fellow countries. He has been a vocal critic of the United States foreign policy towards China. China may right now be more about economic growth, the ability China has to increase its military is very high due to the assistance the United States is giving by being a main importer of goods. Not only should the United States be concerned about Chinese aggression in the years to come, but neighboring countries are already openly worried about the military stance that China is taking. It has been seen that neighboring countries are attempting much in the way that Taiwan did to improve ties with the Untied States in the event that China attempts to gain regional control by force. China at this point is economically advance to the United States because of three main factors; Research and Development, exceeding education, and Green Technology. Although the United States has prided itself on R & D, it is really China that is surpassing the United States in many business sectors. Computers, Mobile phones, and mineral refinement have all been gaining knowledge in China that is being passed though Asia and then into the United States. Many of the technologic goods that the average consumer uses are created in the Asia region. This is partially due to the level of education that Chinese youth get versus how children are taught in the United States. China has no issues with telling students that they are performing below standards and they are removed from programs. The United States attempts to coddle these students and therefore the overall educational system is lowered. This is also portrayed in how children at a young age are given tests which project what education they will receive. With specialized educations comes a better chance of culling those that will harm the country versus those that will assist. The United States on the other hand allows all students the same education, with additional courses possibly for those considered talented. China’s infrastructure is created based on creating as successful country as possible. The United States does not have this infrastructure and if pushed, the United States if anything is breeding the exact opposite of a culture that China is building. China is also becoming a power in Green technology although they do not have the regulations that require it as the United States does. What this does is requires the United States and other countries attempting to use more green technology to purchase it from China. This gives China more revenue while not having to abide by costly oversight. By increasing the export of material goods as well as technology and research, China is able to defuse the deficit trap that many countries fall into. Due to the increase in exports, China is required to bring in less imports while allows for an absent overall trade deficit. This allows for GDP to be used for military or other concerns instead of using it for importing goods needed by the country. Due to the government structure that China has, everyone is taxed greatly, while the government is ensured continued existence by censorship and harsh penalties. The current economy in the United States is poor, the dollar has appreciated to the point of pushing countries out of being able to buy exports. In addition the United States is bringing in more goods from China then sending out to China or internationally. This puts more money into China while less is going back into the United States economy. If the United States was to compete evenly with China economically, the monetary policy currently in place must change which will hurt the United States dollar by increasing inflation, but will bring trade back to the United States and possibly away from China. The United States must bring back all of the industries that have been lost to China as well as formulating a way to increase education, R & D, and green technologies. There are some issues that the United States has to hurdle before being able to do all of these things however. The reason that many companies are sending their manufacturing outside of the United States is the regulations that the government has placed on them, the cost of labor, and the tax benefits. Many businesses find it economically sound to produce in Mexico and other foreign companies to avoid taxation, penalties, or fines for not complying with all the regulations. This hurts more than the government in taxation, but also the American employee and the American consumer. Unable to find work, there will not be enough money; therefore items are going to have to be made for less. With lower prices comes lower quality. To counteract some of the trade issues the United States enacted protectionist trade regulations. The country was allowed to continue to grow a solid national economic base while still assisting in global economies. Using a variety of methods the United States contained the importation of items that were also created nationally. The most rational for the government was tariffs that resulted in the government taking a percent of every transaction. The most rational for companies manufacturing in the United States is the quota system which allows only a specific amount of items to come into the United States. (Coughlin, 22) As tax cuts for wealthy expand as does military spending it is necessary to increase domestic expenditures. As money is cut while spending continues to stay the same or rise, there is an increase to the budget deficit. An increased budget deficit leads to many of the issues seen today in the government; increased national debt, high interest rates, and the overall appreciation of the dollar. Many of these things have been seen recently with the decreased revenue and increased military budget. Although states have to abide by many of the national regulations, there are some avenues for a state to increase its individual GDP. To increase GDP the government needs to decrease the tax benefits that companies receive for having their corporations in foreign countries. Currently if a company was to outsource they would not only pay less payroll taxes but actually receive a tax credit known as the foreign tax credit. What this means is that a company pays the host nation their tax rate and then takes that off the top for their tax returns in the United States. In comparison to the United States with an average corporate tax rate of 46.8 percent of profit, United Arab Emirates has a tax rate of 14.1 percent of profit which could result in millions being saved by a company.(World Bank Group, 202) The government also needs to look at the regulations in place to determine if the benefit of the regulation outweighs the cost to domestic production. In some cases such as regulations against refining and recycling metal needs to be changed so that the United States does not have to send all the metal to Asia with lower regulations and then purchase that metal back. The regulation was originally created due to environmental pollution concerns, now however there is the knowledge to make refining metals cleaner and cheaper than before. This will bring back an entire industry to the United States. There are many examples regulations that could be deregulated and ones that should stay in place. Most, if not all of the institutions that the United States has in place in ineffective at solving the issues occurring. The social institutions that the United States has in place are not benefiting the world the same way that a military may. China is not spending even one percent of its GDP on social concerns while the United States spends roughly one percent. Another difference that is assisting China more than the United States with social concerns is that China is only assisting those countries that they can benefit from, such as strong indo region countries, and regions of Africa that have much needed materials. The United States will assist any country in need rather or not there is a benefit. For that reason China is thinking smarter about what its money goes that the United States does. This also extends to the military sector. China for instance is spending 1.4 percent of its GDP on its military power while the United States is spending 4.5 percent of its GDP. The numbers may appear that the United States is in fact spending more, but the GDP of China is much larger than that of the United States. China is also focused on man power and less on the digital era of warfare. The United States spends billions on one plane, or ship when china spends a billion on guns and training. This gives china albeit an older appearing forces, an increase in raw manpower along with advantages that have come from cultivating the allies that it has. For the United States to be competitive against China in the event of a war, the United States needs to spend more money on the military while increasing domestic production in the military sector. China at this point is not only a superpower of the eastern hemisphere but is quickly becoming an international superpower which due to their communist government is troubling to western democracies. The United States has consistently argued that China needs to release Taiwan from its governmental power. Taiwan believes them to be free as far that what China allows them to be. Over the past century China and Taiwan have fought over who actually controls the land and therefore the people. The United States has also encountered forces from China while landing in Taiwan during previous conflicts. Over the last two decades that China has risen in as an international power, there is a greater chance that Taiwan and China may engage in war. The United States has stated that if China invades Taiwan, the United States will assist Taiwan. This directly places the United States against China in an inevitable conflict. While not the first time that China and the United States have been on different sides, this one will force them to fight against each other versus using a proxy such as Korea or Vietnam. Works Cited Adleman, Irma and Cynthia T. Morris. Economic growth and social equity in developing countries. Stanford, Ca: Stanford University Press, 1973 Balke, N.S. and R.J. Gordon “The estimation of prewar gross national product: methodology and New evidence”, Journey of Political Economy 1989, 109(1): 1-25 Blechman, Barry M. “The Intervention Dilemma” The Washington Quarterly 3 June 1995, 18(3): 63-67 Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010- 11 Edition, Job Opportunities in the Armed Forces, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos249.htm (visited November 27, 2011). Coughlin, Cletus C., K Alec Chrystal, and Geoffrey E. Wood “Protectionist Trade Policies: A Survey of Theory, Evidence and Rationale.”International Political Economy: Perspectives on Global Power and Wealth. Ed. Jeffry A. Frieden and David A. Lake. London: Rutledge, 2000 Kurlantzick, Joshua. Charm Offensive. (A New Republic Book: New York. 2007), 201. Onyemelukwe, Clement C. The Science of economic development and growth: the theory of Factor proportions. New York: M.E.Sharpe, inc, 2005 Taylor, John B. and AkilaWeerapana. Principles of Economics: Global Financial Crisis Edition. 6th Ed. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2010 Welch, Claude E. Civilian control of the military: theory and cases from developing countries. New York: State University of New York, 1976 World Bank Group. Doing Business 2011- Making a Different for: Entrepreneurs. Washington D.C.: The International Bank of Reconstruction and Development. 2010 Read More