Political Crossfire Forums

With all the 'China will be the next superpower to overtake the US' being said repeatedly in the media, I can't help but wince. Is this true? I always thought China was particularly unstable due to it's one party system and endemic corruption, however it is in the process of modernizing its military, and has refurbished an old soviet aircraft carrier, habitually hacks and steals western military secrets, and is awash with savings. It has squared up to the Vietnamese, Philippines and claims the entire South China Sea as its own, and it has built a naval base in both Sri Lanka and Karachi, thus being strategically placed around India.

Alot is said for Chinese economic growth, but I don't buy it, apart from some cosmetic change in economic figures, there's no way in which they can be reliable, why would a country who last had a recession, which produced Tienanmen protests, risk such a situation ever again? There has been a few articles which question the liquidity of Chinese banks, and how the government is essentially propping up businesses which don't perform, or loans which don't either.

Contrast this with the US, it's placed with massive debts, two draining wars overseas with not so clear objectives, a terrorist organisation who will for at least a few generations constantly have to be attacked and guarded against, thus pretty much ensuring an active foreign policy for a long long time.

Will China be in a place in the next 30 years to really start challenging US Hegemony? I hope not. But what can we say to the detractors who think otherwise? And why would anyone be cheering a rise of an authoritarian Communist country.

Quick comment, Gwadar (Pakistan) and Hambantota (Sri Lanka) are not naval bases, they are commercial ports. The notion that the Chinese have a "string of pearls" strategy in the Indian Ocean is, I think, over-hyped.

The high water mark in American history was 50+ years ago. If you wince at the sound of the American decline your just not paying attention. Hell many of the critical parts in the new latest and greatest F35 are foreign manufactured. America unwittingly choose the path to a vertically integrated communitarian society while sitting in front of the TV.

Its going to take many generations just to turn the ship around because the majority of this country spend a total of 15,000 hours being trained to be obedient workers and debt slaves. In the 1st 7500 hours they are taught this magical story of the nation they live in and how the government is everyones daddy. Then spend the next 7500 hours drilling the creativity and ambition out of the individual.... but lucky us! When they hit the real world theres experts to think for everyone and a high tech bull horn to deliver your thoughts.

China is defiantly a more economically free state, the standard of living is rising because of it, but make no mistake much of the country is a slave to a small elite. The education system there is no less controlling over the mind of men, but it isnt nearly as mind numbing as the ridiculous system(s) in the US. With the American taxpayer literally footing the bill to move its industrial might to China... now is not the time to say Boo!

I didnt say anything about Chinese creativity, judging by the corporate atmosphere they must import creativity to be innovative (ie: construction, Tech, solar expansion). Thats a red flag on that front.

The Chinese miracle is bullsh*t.

Every friend I know who has been there says the country is a disgusting sh*thole and they would rather make $10/hr in retail than live in a country that is terribly polluted and with a culture that makes the U.S. rat race look like France. Most of the people are miserable, ignorant worker drones. Their economy is doing much better because of massive government subsidization of industry and production versus the subsidization of consumption that happens in the U.S. They are also catching up because they steal U.S. technology instead of developing it themselves.

All Chinese economic data is faked, if you want to gain real perspectives of Chinese growth you have to look at copper prices and other commodities. That being said the U.S. is struggling as well and the success of either country depends mostly on their respective governments.

Nah. China has made a lot of good moves to move away from being a 3rd world country and toward being 1st world, but they're trying to go from peon to boss way too quickly. Outside of the big cities it's still a country full of peasants. Not like we have people in trailer parks, I mean f**k peasants.