About the articles I would like to express my opinions. Such articles are not new for me any more. In fact, these ideas and China is very closely associated with each other since China's economy became stronger and stronger. In general, I think, all reports from the western media are not beyond the frame, that is "Chinese threat theory". Not only American journalist but also the officials, even the scholars all hold such position on the rise of China. This theory believes that China's economy, China's trade, China's military power all threaten the western countries'
benefits. Without doubt, the development of China will change some rules established by developed countries certainly. But China actually doesn't want to change today's basic political structure in the world that America dominates the earth. What China needs is only to return its status in Asia in history. For one big country with huge population like China, such requirement is in the nature of things. So the worry about China's development is unnecessary.
On Chinese economic strength, I think, there are many exaggerated estimations in the western countries. As I know, some data of economic growth is adulterate. The reality of Chinese economy doesn't seem as dazzling as the government's statistic results. In my opinion, there are
so many problems in Chinese society to resolve today. Almost every problem can do lot harm to the sustaining growth if the government can not deal with it well. On the other hand, the majority of exports come from Multinational Companies that build factories in China with Chinese cheap labor and government's favorable policies in tax. Moreover, during the competition many Chinese local companies were dead or purchased by those "big crocodiles". From this view, we could find that money had been earned via exports mainly by the western companies not by Chinese. Therefore America's condemnation in this field is unfair to China.
Even though Chinese military power is increasing, it still drops far-forth behind US. The Chinese Liberation Army's main motive is to end the civil war and finish the country's unity. Taiwan is the biggest obstacle between US and China. So I believe the relationship between China and US will be absolutely better than now if there is no "Taiwan Problem". China could become one good partner of America and ideology will not also be one gulf between two countries.
On the whole, in my opinion, this reporter from *The Economist *stands on the position of western countries. Even though some facts are right, it is not objective actually. Finally, I must admit, it is obvious that China's democracy and people right still have many problems comparing with western countries. And Chinese government is also not one modern establishment according to your norms. But one perfect system needs a long time, especially for China, because the caesarean history and culture had dominated Chinese for several thousand years. This kind of culture has become custom and burden that rest on today's China.
I hope I have answered your question and it is helpful to your discussion.
All the best.
Degang
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10 comments:
I think it is ironic that the articles we read about China, written by American authors, exalt China to an unprecendented standard in terms of global economic power...while a professor living in China and native to that country views China's status in a much more modest (perhaps somewhat pessimistic?) light. However, Ziegler did mention just that in his article from "The Economist": "Opinion polls suggest that the vast majority of Chinese see their rise as nothing that should trouble others." I can only assume both are "suffering" from subjective selective attention, and are reporting on ideas that are important to each author. I think it is fine that we as a country are so involved with "keeping tabs" on Chinese development. But, I think the harm comes when we focus too much on noticing their growth, which thereby forces us into assuming they will become a top global superpower...with consequences obviously affecting our economic standings, military prowess, etc. Instead, I believe we should focus on how to better align ourselves with China, and as a team reach out to better the global economy cooperatively.
Dr. Li’s response to me was interesting because he made it sound as if we should not necessarily be concerned/worried with China’s development. As Brad stated in his post, Dr. Li’s response about China is somewhat “modest” compared to other reports made about China becoming a superpower in our world. I believe each country has issues that it must deal with, and according to Dr. Li China still has some obstacles that it must overcome in relation to it’s economy and government before it truly can move forward. It seems as though America’s concern with other countries such as China causes exaggerations to be made in regard to their status in our world. I agree with Brad in that we need to be careful about focusing so much of our energy on comparing ourselves to China because eventually this is going to hurt our country more than it will help it.
While I think it is important for the United States to monitor and be aware of shifting economies around the world, I do not think it is helpful or completely accurate to view growing economies in other countries as a threat. While the growth (or decline) will impact the US market, I do not think we should be so quick to see the growth as such a threat.
In the past, the US was a largely unchallenged economic superpower, and countries such as China and India had much less participation and presence in the global economy. It today’s current consumer climate, it only makes sense that the economies in India and China would grow more rapidly than our established economy. Until now, we had an unchecked position as number one, and our country seems desperate not to give up this position. At times, economic growth in other area of the world seems more damaging psychologically to us than economically.
A strong and growing economy is crucial in any country, but I think the health of our economy is influenced by a host of factors, rather than the economies of individual countries (even though their populations are far greater than ours.) The US has many decisions to make about its role in the global economy, and I wish it would look inward to strengthen its economy. Germany’s economy has stayed solvent, because it has a wealth of exports. Our country’s reliance on others for imports, oil, and other resources makes us vulnerable, and this feeling affects how we perceive other countries’ growth. It seems unproductive to constantly compare economic growth within the US to growth in other countries, it is more important that out own economy is healthy and continuously strengthening.
Economic strength and prosperity will depend on each country's ability to innovate. While technology, research, and job opportunities will shift, close, and open in major ways, I believe many aspects of our current ways of life will remain the same. Similar to the first two entries, I believe that changes will me more moderate than previously forecasted. I also think there are other equally important concerns, particularly environmental ones, which countries around the world, particularly China, will need to prepare to contend with.
I am in agreement with all of the other posts so far. I am surprised to read Dr. Li's comments on the current status of China. As educators, we are constantly hearing about China's education system, how Chinese students are much more advanced than our students, that education is valued more in China, that teachers are held in high regard in China while here we are looked upon with much less respect. It leads one to beleive that if their education system is far superior, than other aspects of thier culture must not be far behind.
I think that Americans fear the rise of China. There is always an underlying fear of what will happen to the US if another counrty steps up as a global powerhouse. I feel that we should be encouraging other nations to succeed...to become leaders in the world. Like Brad said, we should work with China and align our two countries for the good of ourselves and others.
It is interesting to hear that most of what we are hearing from the media in reference to China is not the way that the Chinese perceive themselves. It again makes me wary of the media and the spin they tend to put on things.
I found it interesting that Degang doesn’t give his country much credit in regards to its strengthening power. He claims that there are still many problems that China needs to resolve in order to maintain and to support continued growth. He also points out that much of China’s economic activity is a result of foreign countries using cheap Chinese labor to produce products to export; therefore, China may not really be benefiting from all of the reported exports. Degang wrote that it would be more beneficial for the US and China if they were partners and if the US didn’t view China as a potential enemy; he claims the Chinese military is mostly concerned with affairs close to home, so it should not be seen as a threat. Degang doesn’t seem to give his country enough credit for the advances they are making with their military and economic advancements.
One comment from Dr. Degang's post that really struck me was that many Chinese companies are not making perceived profit and that low labor and manufacturing costs in China simply add up to more profit for western countries. As is the American way, we are capitalizing on the ease with which the Chinese have accepted work from American companies and the Chinese are experiencing economic boom based on the rules of supply and demand. Because they can supply products at such low cost, the demand and greed in western companies is high.
I found it interesting that within this boom and appearance of strong economic growth, problems still exist from China's history and infrastructures. I found the connections deep between China and America, in that, while we experience high standards of living in comparison with the rest of the world, people in our country, businesses, etc. still suffer from the imperfections in our society.
As other post-ers have commented, the stark difference between the articles we read concerning the "threat of China" and Dr. Degang's perspective on the country's development gives us more of the whole picture.
The part of Dr. Li’s response that most interested me was his opinion of the economic benefits derived from China’s exports. He explains that many multinational companies have relocated parts of their operations to China to benefit from tax laws and to take advantage of cheap labor. I knew about this—but what I hadn’t really considered was that these companies often push their local companies out of business. This fact, combined with Ziegler’s concession that the average income in China is still quite low and it could be “the world’s poorest [superpower] yet” is worthy of consideration. Clearly this is one of the problems that Dr. Li notes continue to face China.
It was interesting to read a response from a professor in China about the status of his country, a country that Americans fear as a global superpower. Dr. Li emphasizes that China has issues, just like any other country, that it is still trying to overcome. I think that it is important for us to know where other countries stand economically, however, I agree with Brad that creating a global partnership is perhaps a better idea than fear. It is always interesting to compare how other nations are preceived, and how they preceive themselves. According to Dr. Li, the Chinese don't consider themselves to be the powerhouse that we do. China is making great strides in their education systems, economy, and military. Becoming more globally aware is an important goal that everyone should have.
In the 1950s, it was Russia, and in the 21st century it is China and India. The United States is constantly comparing itself to other countries, functioning in a culture of fear of becoming defeated in the race to overall power.
It is refreshing to hear Dr. Li’s perspective as a native of China. I agree that the poorest people in China are being exploited by large companies’ thirst for cheap labor and taxes. Thomas Friedman corroborated Dr. Li’s statement through his research in China. He asserts that companies will hop from one village to another in search of the cheapest possible labor, often leaving villagers jobless.
However, China still should remain in our peripheral view. David Pink asserts that we need to start framing our education system to prepare students to have unique jobs—ones that don’t have the potential to be outsourced to China and India. If China continues to provide a source of cheap, “outsource-able” jobs, then I think that the United States should have a vested interest the effects of outsourcing on our own economy.
Like many others in the class, I was surprised at how Dr. Degang did not seem to think that China was becoming a world superpower like the American authors led us to believe. This could be due to the fact that when we are immersed in our own daily routines, it is sometimes difficult to view the world beyond our own scope of daily life. It took my initial reading of the articles before I realized the emergence of China's economy and development. Classes like these, however, that encourage us to view cultures other than our own and encourage us to "think outside" the box are what enable us to quit being so narrow-minded and recognize the importance of other cultures in our own culture.
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