US intelligence agencies map China’s rise

An American intelligence report predicts China will overtake the US as the world’s biggest economy within the next two decades, as demand for food and water rises and the global balance of power shifts to Asia.

The 140-page Global Trends 2030 report says Asia will become more powerful than North America and Europe combined, as technology, resources and population growth alter the global balance of power.

The report has been prepared by the National Intelligence Council, the analytical arm of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

It combines the thoughts of the 16 intelligence agencies in the US along with foreign and private experts.

Although it is not supposed to predict the future, it is supposed to help US politicians plan for the best and worst scenarios.

“I think the US has to do a lot more thinking about the future, and incorporating that in the decision-making process,” principal author Dr Matthew Burrows said.

“If you go from crisis to crisis you increase your risk of going off the rails.”

The report says China will surpass the US as the largest economy in the 2020s and that by 2030 India could be the rising economic powerhouse that China is seen to be today.

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