China The Next Global Superpower

Submitted By Avery-Edwards
Words: 1124
Pages: 5

Avery Edwards
Ms. Long
EN 1113-24
2015 March 27
The United States’ Protégé Have you ever wondered how life would be if the United States of America was not as powerful as it is today? What if all of that power was overtaken by another powerful country? With China’s growth, that “what if” could turn into a reality. Opinions about this varied from people seeing China as a threat, people not seeing China as a threat, and people who just simply think China will never overtake the United States as the next global superpower. One reason from all, starting with China being a threat, is that China’s sphere of influence has grown tremendously. The fact that China is on a level far below the current global superpower, the United States, is the reason some do not view China as a threat. When it comes to being a developed country, China lacks, which is why people think China has no chance at all at becoming the next global superpower. China with its sphere of influence, thirstiness for oil, and growing military, China poses as a threat to the United States of America. China’s growth educationally, technologically, and economically proves that China is on the rise to becoming the next global superpower.

Economically, China reigns supreme over all. China is like the Wal-Mart of countries, forcing everyone to respond to its low cost demands. With its technological advances, it may even start to compete with the value chain (Knopf 1). That means not only will China be the leader of producing products at low cost demands, but also the value of the products produced will increase. Ted C. Fishman is impressed at the fact that compared to the United States’ $40 billion direct foreign investments, China pulled in $53 billion. Back in 2003, China purchased small percentages of the world's oil, aluminum, steel, iron ore, coal, and a whopping 40 percent of cement (Pye 1). Because China trades with nearly every country in the world, they nearly control the world’s economic system. When a country controls the world’s economic system that means it is on the brink of becoming the global superpower. Being such a large, populated country, China was never environmentally friendly. Compared to the United States, however, China’s environmental issues are not as bad. Because of the recognition they would get, China was one of the first countries to act on the environmental agenda “Agenda 21”. Acting upon this would not only give them positive recognition, but also it was a way to get financial assistance for environmental projects (Clay 2). This was a very ingenious move by China being that they were the first ones to do as such, which meant the other countries were sure to follow to spark competition. Years later, China’s environmental issues had resurfaced. China was predicted to lead the world in carbon emissions by 2020. To fix that, China signed many multilateral environmental agreements (Carter and Mol 10). China is leading the way in taking steps to improve its environmental issues. This only means other countries will follow, but because China took the first steps, it has the power to control the world’s environmental issues. Technologically, China is unmatched. China is a country filled with scientists and engineers who think technological advances deliver social and economic progress. China’s spending on research has increased each year by twenty percent. For the first time on December of 2006, China had surpassed Japan as the second highest research and development investor (Wilsdon 1). It was always a difficult task for China to surpass Japan. To prove that China has no problem with catching up and surpassing countries even with being a latecomer, wind energy technology is a perfect example. China was late in adopting the idea of wind energy technology. With its advancement in it, China soon became the world leader in wind technology. Unlike most countries, China focused more on the marketing, industrial, and technology policies at