The Rise of China on a World Scale

From the years 2000-2006 China has greatly climbed from being just a theoretical power to a real power. Currently China is an instrumental country on the world scale and exerts more influence in South East Asia than the United States. China is infleuntial in Taiwan, North Korea, and Iran. The increasing economy has increased the demand for petroleum in China and as a result the price of petroleum on the world scale has increased. China is also making invenstments into the petroleum markets in Kazakstan, Russia, Iran, Sudan, and Nigeria.

Despite the rapidly rising Chinese economy, China stil lfaces some key issues like dealing with a communist government while having an expanding capitalist economy. The question in the Chinese government is how fast do they want to democratize. The approach in China is very different than the change from communism in Russia to Democracy. In China it is a slow process without revolution or a collapse in the economy. Currently village elections are being held which is the first step towards political reform. In the year 2007 district elections are being planned. These reforms are geared in a timely manner to ocurr before the Beijing Olympic games in 2008 to show the world that it is progressing politically.

Another Chinese problem is the huge disparity in wealth in the region. Still, rural growth in 2004 was 6.8% which was its highest since 1996. This was also an increase from 6.2%. The biggest fear of the Chinese regime is a revolt by the large peasant population.

The Chinese economy is expanding rapidly. China and Japan are currently the two biggest investors in U.S. bonds from the Treasury. China has emerged on the world market as the leader in manufacturing. China is also taking away technological and computer jobs away from the U.S. The jobs in the U.S. have grown the most in professions like cleaning aides, waitors, and nursing staff which is a very bad sign for the U.S. economy. Jobs in the U.S. are going to India and China. China has a rapidly growing Gross Domestic Product rate of more than 9% for 25 years. The 2006 growth rate is expected to increase to 9.9%.

The final concerns that China has are in banking and the environment. The Chinese Banking system may soon find itself overextended on loans. The concerns with the enviroment are big because of the manufacturing and factory industries. however China is working hard to correct these issues by taking the lead among world countries in Green buildings and technology for the environment.