China overtaking U.S. as global trader

China's influence in Africa is something western countries should learn from. Angola was an interesting case when it decided to take a loan from China, guaranteeing exports rather than an IMF loan with all the failed neoliberal measures attached. While the west claimed China was raping the resources of a developing country, Angolans clearly saw the implementation of IMF measures as a greater evil. The days of trying to force other countries to think as you do either by military force or forced adoption of policies are being left behind.

Jimizo Nov. 29, 2012 - 09:24AM JST

Excellent and insightful comment. Imagine China being the one to provide market solutions to 3rd world problems.

The USA just keeps giving billions to the UN, NATO, and IMF etc and to African countries. At the same time, China is working directly with the African countries.

China’s growing presence in trade is just restoring the Middle Kingdom to its historic dominance.

One has to wonder what the US will do to make sure this doesn't happen. Japan is unfortunate in having a front-row seat.

The reason the USA did not get involved in the African countries is because the USA does not see them as a threat until China got involved. The same thing with the SE Asian countires, no peep from the USA until China expanded her military power on the sea.

China's final touch would be consistent creativity and innovation which is seeing little progress at the moment. It would be interesting to see how things turn out for the next 5 years as wages increases it can no longer depend much on manufacturing but the ability to create their own products that meets international standard.

I agree with BertieWooster and the others that this article is a very good one!

As an American, I continue to hope that China's rise to prominence in world trade will be viewed as a great opportunity rather than as a threat. Yes, challenges and pressures will be there, but my sense is that China will seek out win-win solutions, as it seems to have done for many of the nations mentioned in the article.

Still, it is also possible for many of the things unknown and unseen in China's economic system to cause conditions to reverse themselves. In the 1970s, it was Japan that was looked to as the rising economic power that would supplant America. Books on Japanese management style filled bookshelves. But, as we now know, there were deep flaws in the Japanese system. As for China's system, the same is more likely to be true than not.

Wolfpack-san,

China turning to free markets and trade, the US under Obama turning to Socialism and stagnation - it's a crazy world...

Yes, I often wonder if they're going to meet halfway.

This article shows that China being a communist country could still develop and prosper in similar fashion with that of the Western Society, apart from that of different ideology. There was an article I read recently on the comments from the Leaders of the Chinese Government that they intend to lead the Country's development in the way of the Chinese Culture and Society. May be they are also doing this in the developing and developed countries by investing in their countries without interfering with the local politics. Lets hope that this process would continue into the future.

It doesn't matter how much China plans to take over the World as the Largest Traitor - I mean "Trader", because that 1 Child Law they have will come back to haunt them in 20-30 Years from now when they no longer have the Labor Force to sustain their GDP. Even with the considerations made in 2011 by the Communist Regime, that 1 Child Law has essentially set themselves up to Fail.

China turning to free markets and trade, the US under Obama turning to Socialism and stagnation - it's a crazy world...

China's leaders often point out to developing countries that China never colonized ( Tibet an arguable exception ) other countries and doesn't attempt to forcibly remove, sabotage or attempt to enforce its principles on other governments. The IMF is regarded by many as a tool to enforce policies which are not at all suited to countries which have yet to achieve economic take-off, keeping them at a disadvantage ( it is often pointed out that no country has moved from underdevelopment to development without protectionist policies ). No wonder they are looking elsewhere. I would too.

Excellent article! Thx JT!! But I dont read much news about India which is another powerhouse in Asia and just next to China. Where does India stand compared to US or China. Anyone?

worry not, majority opinion here is China will implode in 5-10 yrs.

Quality not quantity. While I am happy to see China's growth, the only threat I can see from China is from their government's way of thinking. When they gain enough global power, how will they use it? So far it hasn't been all that great since they feel emboldened to try and take more land that doesn't belong to them.

Japan better figure out how to get back on track quickly, and put these nationalist lunatics out to pasture.

Excellent article! Thx JT!! But I dont read much news about India which is another powerhouse in Asia and just next to China. Where does India stand compared to US or China. Anyone?

Currently India is lagging far behind China, not to speak US. India is also developing but not at the rate of China's. In short to medium term, India stand no chance.Various long term projections (by goldman sachs, pricewater coopers, IMF) project the top 3 economies in 2040 as China, India, US in that order and after 2050, India, China,US in that order. But projections being projections, it may or may not happen that way. But if one takes a historical millenium perspective (angus maddision study), India and China oscillated between largest and second largest economies of the world until 19th century. So it should not be a suprise if it turns out that way once again .

China seems to be using "Flourish and prosper." Let's hope they keep with it and don't resort to force. Wars and a huge active military with bases all over the planet doesn't.

Based off of this article so much for these comments:

The economies of Japan, China and the U.S.A. are too interdependent.

It would be economic suicide for China and they know it.

It appears it is no longer becoming economic suicide for China. It also appears that they, economies are quickly becoming independent, especially China's from Japan and USA.

But where is the innovation from China? Are they mostly copied products? What products made in China that you admire that are recognized around the world? Automobile, electronics, medicine, computers, etc?

it takes time for a brand to establish itself. in the 1960s and 70s, a lot of japanese brands were consider cheap knockoffs. same for south korean brands in the 1980s and 90s. different story now. also, all countries around the world copy from one another at one point in time. the brits copied from the germans (early sewing machine), then americans copied from brits, japanese copied from americans, south korean from japanese, etc.

skipbeat Nov. 29, 2012 - 11:32AM JST

Yes, it seems obvious that the US (and Japan) is merely funding the global bureaucracy which has been fighting the "War on Poverty" in the 3rd world since the end of the war with few tangible results except for the rapid growth of the bureaucracy. China offers a viable alternative.

skipbeat and saidani-san,

Great points!

The USA dumps donates to African countries, China gets involved.

China is expanding, not by military power, but by expanding her influence.

China owns (in a figurative sense) large areas of Africa, and many, many other places. I was in Sydney, Australia last year and the Chinese presence there is incredible.

Yes, excellent article, this one. It's ironic that in some ways the trade market is freer in Communist China than in EU/USA. Empires rise and fall to be replaced by another empire. Bear in mind also that every empire is also brutal.

This is the first time that I have seen so many positive comments on China at this forum. How many guys here are japanese or are you huys are foriegners? Anyway, China must have done something right.

The countries of the West can no longer hypocritically pretend to be taking a moral high road when simply out to serve their own material interests, especially at the expense of others.

The whole world is adopting modern practices and institutions, so the West can't act like it is some sort of high priest of the free market economics or participatory government.

It doesn't matter how much China plans to take over the World as the Largest Traitor - I mean "Trader", because that 1 Child Law they have will come back to haunt them in 20-30 Years from now when they no longer have the Labor Force to sustain their GDP. Even with the considerations made in 2011 by the Communist Regime, that 1 Child Law has essentially set themselves up to Fail.

but if china hadn't instituted the 1 child policy, it would get criticized for not being socially/environmentally responsible, due to it's population size. of course, you can say the same thing about india, but people don't seem to care about it's population growth with no 1 child policy.

Aminq...But where is the innovation from China? Are they mostly copied products? What products made in China that you admire that are recognized around the world? Automobile, electronics, medicine, computers, etc?

Parents like Shin, who work at companies doing business with China, in turn fed enrollment growth at schools such as Teacher Ching, a Chinese-language kindergarten in Seoul.

Did he give the interview in Chinese?

Excellent article!

There are interesting parallels between present day China and the U.S.A. and the British Empire.

The British Empire wasn't perfect, but it worked pretty well while its motto was "Flourish and prosper." Trade, from the 18th century brought real prosperity to England.

Things only really went sour when it started to use force in the 19th century. Building up the military and fighting several large wars, amongst them Afghanistan, had almost bankrupted the country by the 1920s.

China seems to be using "Flourish and prosper." Let's hope they keep with it and don't resort to force. Wars and a huge active military with bases all over the planet doesn't.

Using force, or the threat of force, spending vast amounts on wars that cannot be won and maintaining a huge military presence all over the world instead of production or trade, the U.S.A. is being left behind.

Maybe we'd better start learning Chinese!