China and America: Can What’s Good for China Be Good for Us?
Published October 9, 2007
By Nate Bradbury
Check the tags on your clothes; I guarantee that you will find the word China. Check the labels on your toys, electronics, and anything else that you own - again, China. Despite its prominence in our goods and financial markets, Americans have mixed feelings about the rise of China on the global stage.
China has been at the center of international trade debate for nearly 200 years. As college students, it is difficult to reconcile such a long timeline with a relatively recent awareness of the growth and powerful potential that China represents.
Starting with the First Opium War in 1839, Chinese markets have represented desirable and profitable rewards to Western powers. The United States, England, France, Russia, and Japan have historically invested significant resources into maintaining diplomatic and economic access to Chinese ports and consumers. It may be surprising to learn that the foundation of U.S. relations with China is based on the Open Door Policy established in 1900.
Generally, Secretary of State John Hay is attributed with pioneering this concept of equal commercial and industrial trade rights. However, the policy truly is a reflection of a series inroads and incidents surrounding the entrance of foreign powers into Chinese markets.
On average, Americans were unaware of the potential “threat” that China has posed to U.S. economic dominance over the entire 20th century - not just the past 15 years. American fears are justified in the sense that China will undoubtedly compete with America’s economic strength on the global stage. However, there is a surprising amount of misinformation out there and even more misrepresentations by the mainstream media of the “threat” of China’s potential.
The fate of America is inextricably linked to the growth of China as a global power. As the world’s fourth-largest economy and third-largest exporter, analysts and experts alike fear that China will leap to the head of the economic pack. These fears are especially prevalent in the United States because of our position at the top of the pecking order. U.S. officials, experts, and media outlets probe the innate fear of foreign powers that has always been a part of the culture.
China will take American jobs and displace our stranglehold on the global economy - or so we are told. This misplaced fear of outsourcing is based primarily on the enormous growth of China’s industrial sectors that send nearly $250 billion worth of goods to the United States every year. Industrial growth and expansion of the Chinese commercial markets are driven by the population differentials between China and the rest of the world. China has approximately 1.33 billion citizens and that is nearly five times the population of the United States. However, the depiction of Chinese workers “stealing” American jobs is largely a misconception.
Manufacturing in the United States has been steadily declining for the past 25 years, at least. This decline mirrors that of other well-established and well-off countries in Europe and across the globe. It is undeniable that competition from Chinese manufacturers has taken some U.S. jobs. However, most estimates put the total loss as low as 500,000 between 2000 and 2010. That number matches the labor force turnover rate in a single week in the United States.
Overall, fear of Chinese competition is unfounded. China’s economic development is linked to the United States and both countries’ growth will continue in unison.
What should you know about China? Well, to start:
There is a 10% gap in the literacy rates of Chinese men and women (95% for men and 85% for women). This reflects the failures of China’s educational system to promote gendered equality in society where most women are marginalized. Despite a spurt of urbanization, China’s population is still largely rural and poor. However, that is changing. By 2030, analysts predict that China’s urban population will nearly double to 880 million and the percentage of Chinese living in urban settings will increase to 61%. This population shift will lead to heavy development of China’s east coast (much like the east coast in the United States).
Chinese government officials estimate that nearly a third of the country is plagued by acid rain. Environmental regulations and industrial growth are dangerously out of balance. Fear of the impact that China’s coal-based industrialization process will severely damage the Asian and global ecosystem is actually well founded. China’s consumption of fossil fuels has nearly matched that of United States (17% of the world demand compared to 22%).
Chinese culture is different. Differences between the consumer-driven American economy and the developing consumer mindset in the Chinese economy are dwindling, though. There has been significant growth in the Chinese middle- and upper classes. This has lead to widening income inequality gaps that closely reflect those present in the United States. Gaps between the haves and the have-nots are believed to have lead to shocking attacks in Chinese schools, much like those in the United States (ranging from Columbine to the Virginia Tech killings).
Actually, it seems that the similarities between the United States and China will grow as the societies and cultures are forced into more economic and cultural interaction. There is no reason to fear the growth of China’s power because that growth should be reflected in its American counterpart. China and the United States have the potential to work together to effect global change and maintain stability. However, Americans, in particular, need to be careful to avoid seeing reflections of the fear that we held toward the Soviet threat in the ‘50s and ‘60s, the German and Japanese economies in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and we are starting to form for the Chinese and Indian economies.
The greatest potential of China’s growth into power will be its ability to work for positive change on a global scale.
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