1. China’s rise is marginalizing American influence in Asia.

2. China’s massive foreign exchange reserves give it huge clout.

3. The Communist Party has the Internet under control.

4. China’s regime has bought off the middle class.

5. China’s rapid economic growth shows no signs of slowing.


The pace of growth is already cooling somewhat — from above 10.3 percent in 2010 to 9.2 percent last year — and the downward shift will accelerate in future years.

Like South Korea and Taiwan, which achieved stellar growth for three decades but have slowed gradually since the 1990s, the Chinese economy will encounter strong headwinds. The population is aging; citizens 60 and older accounted for 12.5 percent of the population in 2010 and are projected to reach 17 percent in 2020. This will reduce savings and the supply of workers, and raise the costs of pensions and health care. If China wants to keep its high growth rate, it must graduate to making Chinese-designed high-tech and high-value-added products. It will need more innovation, which demands less government control and more intellectual freedom.

Most critically, the investment-driven and state-led economic model responsible for China’s rapid growth must give way to a more efficient, consumption-driven, market-oriented model. Such a shift will not be possible without downsizing the state and making the party accountable to the Chinese people.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-chinas-power/2012/01/20/gIQA3CFSTQ_story.html

And they don't have enough chicks for all the Mr. Long Dong's

I thought they had TOO MANY chicks........?

‘Missing girls’
From a relatively normal ratio of 108.5 boys to 100 girls in the early 80s, the male surplus progressively rose to 111 in 1990, 116 in 2000, and is now is close to 120 boys for each 100 girls at the present time, according to a Chinese think-tank report.
The shortage of women is creating a "huge societal issue,” warned U.N. resident coordinator Khalid Malik earlier this year.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5953508/ns/world_news/t/china-grapples-legacy-its-missing-girls/#.TyH2hhyjAko

Chickity China the Chinese Chinese

I'm going to disagree with you on your 'myths' bit.

A couple of them seem viable - #3 and #4, but the rest...

How can China's meteoric rise not be anything but somewhat destabilizing for the US? The US was the only major player in town until the mid 90's. China with over a billion people and modernizing at an unbelievable clip in all sectors is most certainly lessening America's influence over there and in other markets as well. One would be naive to think otherwise.

China's massive US holdings does give it a lot of clout. Next time look how closely we dance when we ask China to float the yuan. We shout and bark but we have no teeth. If China were to dump its holdings of US currency, the dollar would sink. But there is a caveat...they won't do it because it would hurt them too. So tis a bit of a delicate dance.

Lastly, Chinese growth sure it is slowing somewhat but hell 9% growth! If the US had that we'd be blowing trumpets and jumping in the streets. Certainly it isn't 10+% but very few economies have ever sustained that sort of growth. China will continue to grow albeit at a somewhat more restrained rate but 9+% is still phenemonal in my books.

I think Obama is right to turn our attention on east Asia from the Middle East, but we need to keep our military huge and extensively deployed. China is really starting to invest in their military prowess and sphere of influence, we cannot afford to let them become a military superpower the way the Soviet Union was.

Blessed are the murderous.

One other thing, China is the world's leading supplier of rare earth elements.....if China wants to fuck over the world's tech industry, especially Japan and the US, it can.

Blessed are the murderous.