Survival of the Giant Chinese Neighbour - Essay Example

When these people made a ban decision for the sale of these Chinese unsafe items, the PRC government was reported to threaten and imposed retaliatory actions which resulted in consternation among the leaders of the area. These issues of controversy have remained as flashpoints between Southeast Asia and China.

China made some relative gains to the United States in areas of political and cultural power. In a 2007 poll, only 27% of Malaysians and 27% of Indonesians had a favourable view of the United States contrary to the 65% of Indonesians and 83% of Malaysians who favoured the views of China. Although the nearby people responded well in looking at China as the future leader of Asia, China has fared much worse than what the people expected in its soft power. China had its legal system, political system, normative appeal, and respect for human life score very low grades in the eyes of Beijing's nearby neighbours. Although the American culture from the movies in Hollywood to MTV has remained much more accessible and popular, the trend in China is undeniably catching up quickly, at least according to the nearby people. The nearby people responded to giant China through the cultural exchange that existed between the northern nomads and the Chinese, which saw them experience the adoption of the Chinese language, inter-marriages, and religion adoption. However, the pastoral communities in nearby did not adopt the ways of the Chinese people. Chinese as a giant of the area directly depended on the northern nomads by taking their horses for its military. Chinese people also took their products such as furs, forest skins, and amber.

Being a self-contained or isolated civilization means that China was cut off from the outside world. However, China was not like this, the country remained in contact and open trade with the outside world. This can be seen in the Coming of Buddhism across the Silk Road. We can also prove that China was not isolated from the fact that it was conquered by the Mongols. We cannot, therefore, assert that China was an isolated civilization. However, we can, to some degree, say that China was self-contained as it did not require a great deal from other countries outside. Nevertheless, China carried out trade and obtained some ideas from the outside even though it had most of the things that it needed. The only way we can say that China is an isolated civilization is maybe its initial geographical location which was made up of a range of mountains and a vast desert. Earlier before the industrial revolution, climbing over the mountains was not feasible and surviving in the desert was neither easy. The country could only be accessed via the sea. With that, we can arguably say that China was isolated, but not today in an economy where the country has engaged the outside world in trade.

However, according to Zhu (2010), China was isolated militarily and politically. This is due to the minimal military and political contacts with the nations in the middle east. Economically, China needed foreign trade. Direct foreign investment shrinks in other Asian countries and broadly grows in China. This means that dollars are diverted to China from other Asian countries. The growth of China is presenting new economic opportunities to its neighbours. China is also seeking raw materials and minerals from its neighbours for the manufacturing sector; this is due to the proximity of the neighbours. We cannot, therefore, say that China is an isolated civilization due to these aspects of dependencies it has on the Asian region, especially its neighbours.