How Far Is China From The First Economy Of The United States?

China's great potential to replace Japan as the world's second largest economy is changing everything from the balance of global military and financial power to the design of cars.

Judging from some indicators, China's total economic output has risen to the level of the United States. Becoming the second largest economy will highlight the glory of the "central kingdom" which has never been enjoyed since the loss of Asia's military, technological and cultural power in eighteenth Century.

Chinese Export volume Automobile purchase and iron and steel output have ranked first in the world, and its global influence is increasing day by day. From Detroit's auto makers to Brazil's iron ore producers, their wealth depends on China. Consumer And enterprise expenses.

The increase in wealth has also brought political influence: the pressure from China has helped developing countries win a greater say in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Suparman, chief Asia economist at Nomura Securities, said that Japan was once the driving force behind the rest of Asia; now that the tide is shifting, China is becoming a powerful force affecting other parts of Asia, including Japan, including the Nomura. (Rob)

Contradictions are everywhere.

The rise of China has brought striking contradictions. The gap between the rich and the poor has reached the extreme: the number of Chinese billionaires and the average income of 1 billion 300 million of the 1 billion 300 million people are lagging behind in the world. Beijing has completed its two manned space mission and is talking about exporting high-speed rail to California and Europe, while families in remote areas live in caves built in mountainous areas.

The Japanese people still belong to the world's richest list. Last year, their per capita income reached 37800 dollars, and China's per capita income was only $3600. Americans also belong to the world's richest group. Their per capita income is 42240 dollars, and its economy is still the largest in the world so far. But Japan has been in a recession for 20 years, and the United States is in the same field. Finance Crisis struggles, and China's economic scale and the attractiveness of its huge consumer market make its international influence bigger and bigger.

China's rapid growth has brought contradictory changes to Asia and other regions. It has made people scramble for business opportunities, but it has also caused an uneasy feeling that its wealth is helping to finance a kind of accumulation of military power so that it can vigorously implement this communist government's position in the region.

Sheridan, editor of international edition of The Australian, said, "I feel that everyone in the region is trying to benefit from the vitality of China's economy, but at the same time, it is trying to make sure that China does not become a regional hegemony". (Greg Sheridan)

Beyond Japan is only a matter of time.

It is not until the end of this year when China will officially surpass Japan. It depends on the changing exchange rate and the data that the two governments report in different forms.

China's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009 was US $4 trillion and 980 billion and Japan was US $5 trillion and 70 billion. In the second quarter of 2010, China's GDP was US $1 trillion and 335 billion, and Tokyo has not yet reported this quarter's data. China's annual growth rate is as high as 10%, and it is predicted that Japan's expansion rate will not exceed 3% this year.

Jessup Julian Jessop, Capital Economics's leading international economist at the Macroeconomic Research Institute, said in an e-mail that according to this situation, surpassing may have occurred in the last quarter.

Beijing seems to assume that China has already surpassed Japan.

In July 30th, Yi Gang, vice president of the people's Bank of China, said in a policy discussion released on the website of the safe that China is actually the second largest economy in the world.

China's huge demand for iron ore, coal and other commodities promotes the rapid development of the mining industry, helping China's economy grow during the global crisis, while Australia is one of the biggest beneficiaries.

Such transactions prompted Australia to reconsider its attitude towards China, which was seen as a communist invader before. In 2008, Kevin Rudd, the then Prime Minister of Australia, called for closer political, economic and academic contacts with the Chinese government. Kevin Rudd can speak Chinese and used to be a diplomat in Beijing.

However, Kevin Rudd also discussed the issue of human rights, such as the issue of Muslim minorities in Tibet and China, hoping that other countries would remain silent, thus showing Australia's independent view from Beijing. In addition, Australia has affirmed its long-term security alliance with the United States. The United States is a force that can compete with China's growing influence. Kevin Rudd's successor Gilad (Julia Gillard) did not say there would be significant changes in policy direction.

Reshape Greater China {page_break}

From a long historical perspective, the rise of China in twenty-first Century is a return. China has the status of "China" for most of the past 2000, the economic and Military Giants of East Asia, and the beacon of technology and elite culture from Vietnam, North Korea to Japan.

China was once the largest economy, and mills and textile mills accounted for up to 1/3 of the world's manufacturing industry. However, in nineteenth Century, because the rulers refused to emulate Japan's introduction of Western technology, China was on a steep decline. Before 1930s, China's manufacturing output accounted for only a few percent of the world's total.

After the civil war, the Communist Party's power and political turmoil, Deng Xiaoping's free enterprise reform opened the door for hundreds of millions of Chinese to become rich by labour.

Since its reform in 1979, China has grown into the world's low-cost factory and largest exporter, accounting for half of the world's steel output. China hopes not only to develop cheap manufacturing, but also to strengthen the technology industry, but so far it has achieved little success.

Last year, according to the world bank's ranking, China's per capita income ranked 124th in the world, after Latin America and some African countries. Japan ranked thirty-second, while the United States ranked seventeenth.

However, Chinese consumers have been warmly pursued by global companies. All kinds of products sold in the world from cars to household appliances will be taken into consideration in the design of Chinese consumers. This year, Hermes Group, a luxury goods manufacturer in France, launched a brand called Shang Xia, which was specially designed for Chinese consumers.

Military leaders in Asia

Unlike Japan, who abandoned armed aggression after World War II, Beijing regards itself as a military leader in Asia. Since 60s, China has publicly owned nuclear weapons, and now has huge expenditure on military spending to build a contingent of 2 million 500 thousand people.