What kind of superpower could China be?

China is on course to becoming a superpower - but not in the way many expect, writes economist Martin Jacques.

World News • October 2012 • Views: 1,472

A common reaction to the idea of China as a superpower is that it will be like the US - except worse. Worse because it is not a democracy, it has a communist government and because its people are not like us. I guess that gives some the jitters.

In fact we should not expect China to behave in the manner of the US. It will be very different. And nor should we assume that it will necessarily be worse.

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16 comments

Romantic Heretic Sun, Oct 21, 2012 8:10:35pm

A very interesting and from what I know, factual, look at China. The Chinese really don't look at the world the way Westerners do. Also, they don't have the gigantic inferiority complex that Westerners have.

As my favorite author notes, Western civilization is descended from the barbarians that destroyed the Roman Empire. We've wanted to replace it ever since and all our efforts go towards that goal. Unfortunately the inferiority complex got worse the further power moved in time and space from Rome. We aren't even aware of it any more.

China doesn't have to prove it is superior because it believes it is superior. Westerners are always trying to prove they are superior.

Destro Sun, Oct 21, 2012 8:30:23pm

re: #1 Romantic Heretic

I see it the same way also.

And

I, for one, welcome our new Chinese overlords.

Mostly sane, most of the time. Sun, Oct 21, 2012 8:49:29pm

I'm a bit concerned about the whole not tolerating the ideas of others. It's one thing to disagree and state your point and even debate. It's another to throw people in jail just for their ideas.

Destro Sun, Oct 21, 2012 8:57:33pm

re: #3 Mostly sane, most of the time.

I'm a bit concerned about the whole not tolerating the ideas of others. It's one thing to disagree and state your point and even debate. It's another to throw people in jail just for their ideas.

The USA has more people in prison than China.

dragonath Sun, Oct 21, 2012 9:06:45pm

re: #4 Destro

It's likely most of the prisoners in China are not even reported. China also executes magnitudes more people than pretty much anyone else.

Destro Sun, Oct 21, 2012 9:33:49pm

re: #5 dragonath

So taking into account Chinese political prisoner systems we don't know about we are taking comfort we are a close second to Communist China?

America, land of the free? Not so much.

[Link: www.nytimes.com...]

The United States has less than 5 percent of the world's population. But it has almost a quarter of the world's prisoners.

Indeed, the United States leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment. Americans are locked up for crimes — from writing bad checks to using drugs — that would rarely produce prison sentences in other countries. And in particular they are kept incarcerated far longer than prisoners in other nations.

China, which is four times more populous than the United States, is a distant second, with 1.6 million people in prison. (That number excludes hundreds of thousands of people held in administrative detention, most of them in China's extrajudicial system of re-education through labor, which often singles out political activists who have not committed crimes.)

ProGunLiberal Mon, Oct 22, 2012 5:25:21am

re: #3 Mostly sane, most of the time.

Exactly. Ask the Uyghurs, the Tibetans, and the neighbors of China about the concept of China being more passive. I have the dead opposite view of China here.

ProGunLiberal Mon, Oct 22, 2012 5:28:08am

This summarizes my thoughts:

The author being an economist, is overwhelmed by the rapid growth of wealth in China. He has not noticed the mental attitude of the people there and the crazy hunger for consumption in all forms. Seems the author has not gone through the changing map of China over the years. Its unofficial military presence in several countries. It has disputes with countries all around its borders. It is continuously 'expanding' in a broader sense. Its policy is - if you can not invade militarily then BUY that place. China is also spending more and more on its military development. It is immaterial if the power used to bend other countries is military power or economic power. As long as its attitude is aggressive, it is the same as the other countries mentioned in the article. Overall it is going to contribute less to the entire globe compared to what it would consume.

From someone in Shanghai.

Destro Mon, Oct 22, 2012 7:01:43am

re: #7 ProGunLiberal

Those nations have had histories with China. China is not looking to say, invade and take over Europe like the Europeans did China.

China does not want to invade and take over Japan for example. China does want to bring Taiwan into its territory on the other hand.

That's the distinction.

ProGunLiberal Mon, Oct 22, 2012 8:55:23am

At work on bad computer, so I cna't reply to Destro directly. However, that is an extreme whitewash of China's history. How many times did they try to force (and subsequently fail) to force Vietnam into submission? And Tibet and Uyghurstan today. Or how about the 1960's War when China unprovoked attacked India to seize Arunchal Pradesh? Or the invasion of Vietnam after we left to stop them from stopping the Khmer Rouge. Or them trying to seize control of the South China Sea, damn everyone else around it. They are Imperal. Look at the history of China, and how they expanded in the region. Not only that, but China existing for 2000 years is flat BS. They have gone through dynasties and warring periods, and there is also a flat break between these time periods. China is very good at putting out Propaganda. Most of it is wrong.

I'll say what Dark Falcon has been itching to say for a while. You are a "Revolutionary" Jackass. You seem to value whatever "Revolution" you want to occur, never mind basic human rights like Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, or Freedom of Assembly. I have already caught you trying to whitewash the Holodomor. Being a Scandinavian-style Social Democrat, I find your theories ideals repulsive. China intimidated Norway after the Nobel Peace Prize a few years ago. Norway and China don't even speak now, thankfully.

Obdicut Mon, Oct 22, 2012 9:40:52am

re: #9 Destro

You're comparing European nations in the past, with China in the present. That's a silly comparison.

Destro Mon, Oct 22, 2012 11:39:58am

re: #11 Obdicut

You're comparing European nations in the past, with China in the present. That's a silly comparison.

No, I am comparing Western perceptions. The West thinks China will do with power the same thing they did. Like Americans thinking China will one day invade Siberia and take it over, you know, just like they did with the American south-west.

Obdicut Mon, Oct 22, 2012 11:41:43am

re: #12 Destro

No, I am comparing Western perceptions. The West thinks China will do with power the same thing they did. Like Americans thinking China will one day invade Siberia and take it over, you know, just like they did with the American south-west.

I don't think that China will invade Siberia and take it over. Seems pretty unlikely.

Who are these Americans?

Mostly sane, most of the time. Mon, Oct 22, 2012 12:14:40pm

re: #13 Obdicut

I don't think that China will invade Siberia and take it over. Seems pretty unlikely.

Who are these Americans?

China did the equivalent already. They took over Tibet.

Destro Mon, Oct 22, 2012 12:28:53pm

re: #14 Mostly sane, most of the time.

China did the equivalent already. They took over Tibet.

Tibet was a tribute state of the Chinese empire (Qing) up until 1912. The USSR had the same patterns - what seemed like Soviet expansion was really the USSR trying to reform the old Russian borders or spheres of influence from before the revolution.

Destro Mon, Oct 22, 2012 12:35:37pm

re: #13 Obdicut

It is standard right wing creep talk and kind of explains projection. Some Americans just assume Chinese people think like they do about the world:

[Link: www.freerepublic.com...]

We ought to make Siberia the 51st state. Of all the former peoples of the USSR, Siberians have always been [had to be], the most independent thinking. They’d love us. Then, there’s the mineral resources. And we’d be accross the street from the greatest take-out in the world.

2 posted on May 6, 2011 10:00:37 AM EDT by PzLdr ("The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am" - Darth Vader)

Geography has made China and Russia are natural enemies. Much more natural enemies of each other than either are of the USA.

4 posted on May 6, 2011 10:02:20 AM EDT by Colonel Kangaroo

Tom Clancy wrote an excellent novel about this subject:
“The Bear and the Dragon” in 2000.

6 posted on May 6, 2011 10:18:48 AM EDT by Maine Mariner

My vote goes for Mongolia.
Every Mongolian I've met, and there have been quite a few, have been beer-drinking, food loving, shot drinking, happy slappy, smart as a whip, American loving butt-kickers.

And the men are about the same...;)
7 posted on May 6, 2011 10:24:42 AM EDT by Tainan (Cogito Ergo Conservitus.)

To: Tainan
I LOVE the Mongols. Hell, after we get Siberia, I’d give them back China-and Russia.

8 posted on May 6, 2011 10:27:25 AM EDT by PzLdr ("The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am" - Darth Vader)

Right wing think tanks on foreign policy fuel such talk (is it me or is it creepy a Freeper is calling himself "PzLdr" and hearts on Darth Vader?

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