Thing is... At what point in the history of civilization was China NOT involved in major international trade and massive ecomic power?
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Thing is... At what point in the history of civilization was China NOT involved in major international trade and massive ecomic power?
When they were completely isolated from the rest of the world from like 1400-1800?Quote:
Originally Posted by mrdevious
I don't think they could build an army. Arms dealers would have such repercussions and the leaders of military technology is in America. Oh yea our seemingly endless credit line doesn't hurt.
as to what you said about the military, with atomic bombs that could destroy the planet twenty times over the playing field is kind of levelled for anyone who has enough of them, and the us has the most
400 years is a tiny piece of history for china. My point is, China being an economic powerhouse isn't the sudden new threat everyone makes it out to be.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pangea
I agree! We shouldn't be baffled by the economic strength of China. The real wonder is its diversity of there wealth. You see the meshing of other cultures and investments. At one point in time fraternizing with westerners was a punishable by death.Quote:
Originally Posted by mrdevious
Actually, China being an economic powerhouse is relatively new. Sure there was previously a lot of trade, but prior to WWII it was pretty much the West who's economies profitted the most from trade with China. Britain's East India Company made an art out of exploiting Eastern countries. Hell, they even got England to fight a war with China for the right to get the Chinese addicted to opium.
Once the communists took over in 1949 the disasterous effects of Mao and his Great Leap Forward, and later the Cultural Revolution, just took their economy backwards. It wasn't until the reforms of the early '80's that China's economy started to grow and then in the 90's it just took off at an staggering rate. To give some perspective on how fast it has grown, China's current GDP is about 200 times greater than it was in 1980. Compare that to the U.S., where our current GDP is only about 4.5 times greater than it was in 1980.
Despite the rapid growth of China's economy, I agree that we shouldn't be threatened by it. They are a massive country with a huge population. Whay shouldn't we expect they have a huge economy to go with it. Why is this seen as a threat and not common sense? Do we have any right to demand they don't strive to increase their standard of living? We're all for digging wells and sending grain to starving kids in third world countries, but fuck them if they want a couple of tv's and two cars in the garage. Why? And what do we expect they are going to do that is so threatening?
China does have a huge, and growing, military but so do we. Why is it that when we build the most massive, high tech, military in the world it's called "defense" but when China build it's military it's called "intentions of world domination"? In any case, thier military doesn't pose much threat to us here in the U.S.. Sure, they'd probably kick our ass if we tried to invade, but they have no way of projecting their military might beyond their borders. Except for nukes but seriously, unless the shit really hits the fan, and probably even if it does, this isn't going to happen. They know if they did they'd be wiped out. It's the old M.A.D. standbye that has kept itchy trigger fingers off the button for a long, long time.
US miltary spending is roughly equal to the rest of the world combined. And still bong lives in fear.
That's because our Military is nothing compared to THE MUSLIM HORDE :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by andruejaysin
FENGZI the U.S.A government only gives a shit about Chinas prosperity because the bigger and wealthier they get the more oil China needs influencing the world price of oil.Less Supply and high demand =higher gas prices and the U.S.A economy with its high debt is on shaky ground.America is a super power but the American people dont want to be taxed accordingly.