Relationship between America and China

When searching the internet for this week’s blog I found it hard to find a complete website dedicated to China and America’s relationship. Instead I am going to look at an article which is from January of this year: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/01/19/americas_china_syndrome_108586.html

The article takes the stance of China not being able to become as powerful as America; it says ‘China isn't remotely powerful, influential, or rich enough to play the leading role of America’ thus it won’t be able to take over as the world’s superpower. It also suggests that, despite China wanting greater power and influence, they aren’t keen on becoming a leader; this is reinforced by the fact that they don’t contribute enough to solving world issues whereas America does. China also has too many big issues to deal with overtaking America in terms of power: ‘China has 700 million very poor people. By 2050, it will have 400 million very old people. It will "get old before it gets rich"... The country is shot through with corruption, bogus accounting practices that make subprime-mortgage bundles look like gold bullion, and a political elite that remains terrified of democracy. A confident government doesn't banish its Nobel Peace Prize winners..China is still governed by a fundamentally evil system’. Therefore, although China is an economic challenger, it ultimately won’t be a serious threat to America any time soon.

While it portrays America as still being the main leader of the world: ‘American leadership is still the global norm’. However it suggests that despite this, it also describes that it doesn’t always act unilaterally therefore it’s not hegemonic. The article also suggests America hasn’t been completely a superpower; it says, ‘during this Pax Americana, a nasty war broke out in Europe, genocide materialized in Africa, and the United States was harassed and wounded by stateless Islamic terrorism. We also fought a war in Iraq that ended in a bloody armistice, requiring constant policing for more than a decade. Now we're in another expensive war. Meanwhile, our trade deficit only gets worse’. However, aside from these issues it says that America isn’t ‘nearly so weak, ignorable, or poor' to warrant its decline. As for China’s rise in power and influence, it implies that it would not have been possible if it weren’t for America: ‘China's rise doesn't reflect some grand failure of American foreign policy but its success. Drawing China into the global economic and political system has been a bipartisan foreign-policy goal for generations’. Overall this article connotes that America is over-reacting to China’s rise and that America isn’t in decline but in roughly the same place as it has always been – America has never been completely superior and without problems.