Will 2008 be the year that China takes the throne as global top dog? According to The Independent, that's exactly what China has in mind for the coming 12-months:
China is set to make 2008 the year it asserts its status as a global colossus by flexing frightening economic muscle on international markets, enjoying unprecedented levels of domestic consumption and showcasing itself to a watching world with a glittering £20bn Olympic Games.
Once regarded at best as a sporting also-ran, China is widely tipped to top the medals table in the Beijing Olympics in August, an event in which the country's leadership is investing huge importance and prestige.
This month, for the first time, China's state-controlled banks will begin spending some of its $1.33trn (£670bn) in foreign currency reserves on London's financial markets. Beijing has ruled that Britain should become only the second destination after Hong Kong to be allowed to receive investors' money via so-called "sovereign funds" – the huge state-controlled surpluses built up by cash-rich economies from Qatar to South Korea.
The talk in the finance houses is that the label "Made in China" will soon be replaced by one reading "Owned by China". Takeover speculation has provoked concern in some quarters at the wisdom of selling large assets to organs of a democratically unaccountable state where the financial sector remains underdeveloped.
China's trade surplus with the rest of the world will widen from £130bn in 2007 to £145bn this year as it tries to tame its burgeoning economy amid pressure from Washington and Brussels to narrow the trade gap and raise its currency's value.
But while some may question Beijing's political motives, there is no doubt that China has arrived as serious power-broker. Last year, it surpassed America as the greatest driver of global economic demand. It is also widely predicted to overtake Germany as the world's third largest economy this year.
From global warming to Darfur and North Korea, the views of Beijing and its willingness to act have become prerequisites to any solution to the world's most pressing problems.
Let's bear in mind that the West largely drove China's economic ascendancy. We invested our wealth into growing their economy to extract short term gain from lower wages and relaxed or often non-existent regulatory demands. We did this full well knowing we were growing the economy of a totalitarian state which could wield enormous political control over its economic expansion unimagined in democracies. It's been greed driving our betrayal of our own nations. The rentier class seeking maximized investment income at the expense of their countries and countrymen all the way down to the working class seeking to offset income stagnation by buying Chinese goods that line the shelves of mega-store retailers. We baited the hook and now find ourselves thrashing about at the end of the line. Remarkable.
China is set to make 2008 the year it asserts its status as a global colossus by flexing frightening economic muscle on international markets, enjoying unprecedented levels of domestic consumption and showcasing itself to a watching world with a glittering £20bn Olympic Games.
Once regarded at best as a sporting also-ran, China is widely tipped to top the medals table in the Beijing Olympics in August, an event in which the country's leadership is investing huge importance and prestige.
This month, for the first time, China's state-controlled banks will begin spending some of its $1.33trn (£670bn) in foreign currency reserves on London's financial markets. Beijing has ruled that Britain should become only the second destination after Hong Kong to be allowed to receive investors' money via so-called "sovereign funds" – the huge state-controlled surpluses built up by cash-rich economies from Qatar to South Korea.
The talk in the finance houses is that the label "Made in China" will soon be replaced by one reading "Owned by China". Takeover speculation has provoked concern in some quarters at the wisdom of selling large assets to organs of a democratically unaccountable state where the financial sector remains underdeveloped.
China's trade surplus with the rest of the world will widen from £130bn in 2007 to £145bn this year as it tries to tame its burgeoning economy amid pressure from Washington and Brussels to narrow the trade gap and raise its currency's value.
But while some may question Beijing's political motives, there is no doubt that China has arrived as serious power-broker. Last year, it surpassed America as the greatest driver of global economic demand. It is also widely predicted to overtake Germany as the world's third largest economy this year.
From global warming to Darfur and North Korea, the views of Beijing and its willingness to act have become prerequisites to any solution to the world's most pressing problems.
Let's bear in mind that the West largely drove China's economic ascendancy. We invested our wealth into growing their economy to extract short term gain from lower wages and relaxed or often non-existent regulatory demands. We did this full well knowing we were growing the economy of a totalitarian state which could wield enormous political control over its economic expansion unimagined in democracies. It's been greed driving our betrayal of our own nations. The rentier class seeking maximized investment income at the expense of their countries and countrymen all the way down to the working class seeking to offset income stagnation by buying Chinese goods that line the shelves of mega-store retailers. We baited the hook and now find ourselves thrashing about at the end of the line. Remarkable.
2 comments:
Indeed...we have let this happen...encouraged it. I was talking to a man the other day and he is paranoid about China "taking over the world". I asked him if he knew how many western companies are working out of China. He couldn't answer the question. He actually became very confrontational when I asked the quetion. Goes to show just how informed people are and just how informed they want to be.
"Goes to show just how informed people are and just how informed they want to be." You're right. We live in the "information age" and yet it has resulted in staggering levels of misinformed or uninformed people. I left the news business three decades ago just as the focus truly shifted from information to entertainment and the "dumbing down" of the populace.
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