China far from overtaking US
It is said: “The 21st Century is the century of the Chinese.”
While the economic achievement China attained after the “Reform and Opening Up” period undoubtedly astonished the world, formidably arrogant wealthy Chinese people could never buy others’ respect due to their uncivilized behavior overseas.
Besides, while Chinese right-wing radicals and haters on the Internet like to exclaim: “Down with American Imperialism,” they are out of touch with reality. Today’s China, even with its growing influence, could hardly shatter the modern world order set up by the US.
Let us first look at China’s economic power. After adjusting for purchasing power parity, China overtook the US last year to become the world’s largest economy.
This might be partly true, but the trend of China’s economic growth rate appearing to slow should not be neglected.
Moreover, academics and other experts usually doubt the official economic figures published by Chinese government. Local governments in China that are used to faking data and hiding debt are, in fact, on the edge of a bubble set to burst. Also, as an emerging market, China’s ability to deal with economic crises is questionable.
The US dominated the world economy after World War I and World War II. For decades, oil crises and economic depressions continued to occur, but the US ultimately overcame those difficulties.
Confronting the latest financial tsunami sparked by the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008, the US successfully employed quantitative easing to fight the recession. Supposing that China’s real-estate bubble suddenly bursts, does it have the ability to handle such a crisis in a same manner as the US did?
Aside from the economy, one aspect of national power is defense. US military expenditure is four times than that of China, and in addition, when it comes to global military deployment, the US’ worldwide military-base network definitely leaves China in the dust.
Speaking of foreign policy, US President Barack Obama’s administration has screwed up in many areas, but the status of the US as world leader has barely declined. Furthermore, most of next year’s potential US presidential candidates are considered hawkish; particularly the most popular one, former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton, who devised the administration’s “rebalancing to Asia” policy when she took office.
Thus we can expect to see the US becoming more actively involved in East Asian affairs and tackle China’s armed and aggressive moves in the region.
Finally, the compelling accomplishments the US has achieved were strongly based on the foundations it established after two world wars. The US’ close-knit alliances with countries all over the world were not built up overnight. And needless to say, in the post-war era, the US was the main bulwark that stood firm against and defeated the Soviet Union in the Cold War.
All in all, it is pointless to conclude China will surpass the US when China has never achieved what the US has during the modern era.
Bill Chang
Tainan
Taiwan has come far
Aaron Andrews recently wrote about how scooters in Taiwan are too loud (Letters, May 13, page 8). One solution is electric scooters. He may take hope that quieter electric scooters may become the norm, although few of them are yet on the road. Also, after living in Taiwan for a few years, noisy scooters may not bother him so much.
I don’t know where Aaron is from, but many of us foreigners from North America or Europe are not used to living in such a crowded place as Taiwan. Furthermore, Taichung, where Aaron lives, is less crowded than Taipei.
With its low birth rate, why is Taiwan so crowded? Because it is a great place to live. Yes, it is hot. Yes, it rains a lot. Yes, Mandarin is hard to learn. And maybe you do not like street food. However, everything is affordable. It is safe to walk alone at night for women and children. And Taiwanese are nicer to foreigners than to their own mothers.
Taiwan has also come a long, proud way. I was born before 1980, so I am almost 40 years old. Taiwan was not always this developed, nor this free. I have a dear friend of the same age, also from Taichung, who was not allowed to speak Taiwanese in school when she was a little girl. And when she was a little girl, hers was not the only house on the street — it was the only house on the dirt road.
So, yes, Taiwan is ugly and dirty and crowded, but it is also beautiful. And safe. And though it is a small country, it is a great country.
So, my fellow foreigners, let’s make Taiwan our country. Let’s learn Mandarin. Let’s learn Taiwanese. And let’s buy a clean quiet electric scooter.
Andres Chang
Taipei
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