Some thirty years ago, no one cared much about China, as it was still considered a Third World nation, and today, it could be argued that it is still a Third World nation, despite cities like Beijing and Shanghai and about 20 or 30 more. they are quite advanced, with modern architecture, infrastructure and amenities. However, the rest of the country is quite poor, with farmers barely surviving. In China you are either rich or poor, and there are very few in the middle class, and that is even if you call people who earned $1300 last year middle class.
Not long ago, we were discussing all this in our online think tank. One of the questions was; “What worries you about China?” These are some of the issues that concern me: issues and challenges, which I believe our expert group needs to address;
Trade wars, Chinese military, lack of transparency, arms sales to enemies, raw materials, lack of product regulation, labor challenges, floods, growing pains, investments, outsourcing, old guard out – new guard in . Pollution, dead sea zones, water rights, traffic jams, bad loans and municipal vehicles, currency problems, worldwide treasure hunt for oil, border disputes, ethnic cleansing, loss of industries to China: automotive , IT, aviation manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, etc. ASEAN bloc challenges.
And I went on to rattle off more issues and challenges that I feel need to be addressed right now; Internet censorship, religious freedom, human rights, politics, diplomacy, economy, trade, environment, education, think tanks. And let’s not forget the issues with Taiwan, Burma, India, Japan, and Tibet, or some of the major current issues in the news; Typhoons, floods, pollution, oceanic dead zones and economic development in the interior of the province.
A few days ago in the cafeteria I was talking to a second generation Chinese American, who is now a school teacher here in the US, and he indicated that the biggest problem in China was not any of the things I mentioned above, but who said the problem is massive corruption. Now, China doesn’t want the United States or anybody to tell it what to do, but now that China has the second largest GDP of any nation on earth, and we continue to have a trade deficit with them of almost half a dollar. trillions a year, if we don’t talk about these things our economy is likely to collapse, which would also sink the Chinese economy, along with the rest of the world.
Do you see that point? That’s why we need free trade, but we need to have fair trade, where this is simply not going to be sustainable in the long run. Please consider all this.