There is one country that amazes the world with its slow yet powerful expansion. China has undoubtedly developed rapidly and profoundly starting in the 1940s and is still expanding its political and economic influence globally. China intimidates competitors, as it expands in all directions, from East Asia to Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and others. The recent agreement with Iran has major oil, investment, and undoubtedly political implications, as President Biden pointed out with concern and knowledge. Even today, China is not treated in a way that suits its power, not only by the West but also by Russia and a group of emerging countries. China has become a major power, and sooner or later the world will adapt to this power in all international institutions, including the Bank and the IMF. China's primary strength is its economic growth, which is reflected in politics and China's full and comprehensive role in the international community. Between 2005 and 2019, China's average annual growth reached 6.5% at a time when Western economies were faltering. IMF statistics indicate a return to strong growth this year and until 2025, which confirms the potential increasing role of the Chinese administration. There is no doubt that growth has declined since the beginning of the century, when its rate was more than 10%, but it is still significant and even surprising, especially since it continued during and after the Great Recession in 2008. After the Sino-Japanese War from 1937 to 1945, China began to move to play its historical role. Japan's victory in the war made it a major international power. The patriotic Chinese did not perform the role expected of them by the United States, and they mismanaged the country at a time when the Communists, along with Mao, were building their power and preparing to take over power. In the year 1945, the real strong confrontation began between China and the United States, that is, even before Mao announced the birth of Communist China in 1949. The confrontation began despite the knowledge of both parties that their interests required cooperation in all fields, namely trade, investments, the environment, science, and others. There is no doubt that the wars in Vietnam and Korea resulted from this early conflict between America and China. Western interest in China did not begin until after the Japanese landing at Pearl Harbor in late 1941, which confirmed Western bias towards China and against Japan. China blamed the West for neglecting the Asian situation and focusing on the European situation, which in the opinion of the Chinese was not considered more important. In 1945, due to the war with Japan, between 20 and 30 million Chinese lost their lives. In 1949, with the communists taking power, the life expectancy of a Chinese was only 40 years. As is known, Stalin was not convinced of the Chinese revolution and considered them not to believe in the revolutionary struggle in doctrine and reality. Mao used to say that he would not rule like Stalin, but would implement Western democracy within Chinese reality. He was able to attract the West to him, but not for long. The Chinese bias towards the Soviet Union later constituted a strong blow to the Americans, at least until the visit of Kissinger and then Nixon to the Chinese capital. As for China, even though the Soviet Union was communist in belief, the powerful neighbor always worries while America is far away, and therefore the danger is less and the freedom to act remains greater. Today, there is great disagreement between Washington and Beijing over everything, perhaps from geography to politics and economics. China's economic expansion through investments in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere worries Washington. But the two teams are aware of the limits of confrontation, which cannot be military, despite all the problems associated with Taiwan and Hong Kong. The important thing is that the competition remains within the limits of logic and within safety standards, and that the two teams do not exaggerate fear and isolation. Perhaps the Russians are smiling today to see the American-Chinese competition growing to unprecedented limits.
What are the factors of weakness today in China compared to the United States? Does China still amaze the world?
in population growth; Despite the large population, the number will decrease in the coming decades, unlike the United States, which will enjoy population increases from within or through immigration. In geography, there is no doubt that the United States is blessed with friendly neighbors such as Canada, Mexico, and southward towards Brazil. There are some hostilities that do not shake the security of the United States, such as Cuba and Venezuela. Unlike China, which geography gave it strong neighbors such as Russia, Japan, Korea and others. America is comfortable with its neighbors while China must be worried and thus expanding towards distant continents. in energy; Where China needs oil. America exports it, thanks to shale oil, and is therefore comfortable with the availability of this important material for production. In technology, there is no doubt that the United States remains much stronger thanks to its leading universities and large research institutes. The transfer of some of this technology to China previously contributed to its renaissance and thus to the production of goods at the cheapest prices that the world needed, especially the United States itself. No one can deny the quality of Chinese technology in medicine, science and various research. There are major challenges facing Chinese power today that will dim the glow of success after decades of amazing growth. Including higher and higher inflation due to large investments within it. The income gap expands in a communist political system despite the capitalism of the economy. There are realistic limits to widening the dangerous gap. The least effective sector is the financial and banking sector. The state's control is great, especially in pushing these institutions to finance the public sector without paying attention to cost and productivity factors. There is a need to develop and protect the property system. So that it is more clear and better defined. There is no doubt that China needs to issue comprehensive, periodic and accurate statistics in order to remove doubts about the numbers and analyzes it issues. As for debts, they are increasing, and therefore this large indicator cannot be left to grow without supervision or treatment. According to the IMF, debt will reach 47% of GDP in 2021, up from 37% in 2015, noting that there is a consensus that these numbers are lower than the truth and reality. China must one day think about paying it, especially since the budget deficit is clearly increasing with the people's changing consumer needs and modern demographic adjustments.