China – The Chinese economy is the second largest in the world following the United States in terms of nominal GDP, while it is first since 2014 in terms of GDP.
GDP is usually used to compare living standards in different countries, while nominal GDP is the best comparison between national economies in the international market.
The competition for the “future” has thus reached its peak between China and the United States, with an advantage for China, which is expected to overtake its rival for the position of first economic power in the world in 2030 in terms of nominal GDP calculations.
China between Mao and his successor Deng:
At the time of the founding of the People’s Republic under Mao Zedong in 1949, China was a country with a 90 percent agricultural economy, and in order to achieve what Mao described in 1858 as the “Great Leap Forward,” under the slogan “Three Years of Hard Work — Ten Thousand Years of … Happiness”, agricultural communes were established in which agricultural production was carried out and at the same time various industries were developed.
The project failed for many reasons, not only in the industrial field, but also in securing the country’s food needs. For example, the authorities launched a campaign to combat birds as part of their push for agricultural reform, which led to an imbalance in the environment and an increase in the number of harmful insects. This failure caused a terrible famine between 1959 and 1961, which killed regarding 40 million people.
After the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, the country was run by Deng Xiaoping, who unlike Mao had flexible views and moderate ideas. This is evident in his repetition of a saying that says: “It does not matter whether a cat is black or white, if it can catch mice, it is a good cat.”
With the aim of changing the current situation and quickly launching his country’s economy, Bin Ying allowed the farmers to work for their own benefit and not just for the benefit of “cooperative farms.” He also normalized his country’s relations with the West and opened China’s doors to foreign investments. He also signed agreements with Britain and Portugal under which he was able to recover Hong Kong and Macau under the principle of “One country, two systems.”
Ping’s economic reforms, which aimed to build a “socialist market economy,” began by encouraging initiative and working to achieve profit. Factories and laboratories were allowed to sell their products on the market, and Chinese companies were also allowed to merge with foreign companies to obtain advanced technologies and hard currency.
The United States versus the Chinese dragon:
The United States began communicating with China and establishing trade relations with it as early as the beginning of the 1970s. Washington aimed to contain this country and exploit its differences with the Soviet Union during that period.
Later, following China’s economic opening, Washington steadily strengthened its trade relations with Beijing. The Americans were confident that the market economy would eventually bring liberalism to China and transfer it to the capitalist system controlled by the United States. So far, the United States has not been able to achieve this goal, and is now desperate to curb it politically, economically, and militarily.
The volume of trade between China and the United States, for example, increased from $1.1 billion in 1978 to $519.6 billion in 2016.
The Chinese miracle is clearly evident in the rise in its gross domestic product from $360.86 billion in 1990 to more than $17 trillion in 2021, which means that the Chinese economy has doubled 49 times in 31 years.
While in 1976 China exported goods worth only regarding 7 billion dollars, in 2021 it became the largest exporting country in the world with a volume worth 3.5 trillion, that is, 507 times more than it was in 1976.
Another important aspect of the Chinese miracle is that its economic structure has changed dramatically. While clothing and textiles enjoyed the greatest health in their exports in 1992, by the end of 2019, almost half of them were in mechanical engineering and electronics.
This country, with a population of 1.41 billion people, has succeeded, thanks to its economic reforms with amazing results, in raising the standard of living of its citizens. Chinese President Xi Jinping declared in 2021 victory over extreme poverty.
China is on its way to continuous and unprecedented economic growth. The economic war that broke out between Washington and Beijing during the term of former President Donald Trump, and the severe tension over Taiwan later, may be an indication that the heated competition between the two countries has reached dangerous levels, and may be a candidate for escalation.
Source: RT
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2024-04-30 08:14:55