Is China emerging superpower in the 21st Century?

Is China emerging superpower in the 21st Century?
The People’s Republic of China observed its 60th communist party rule on 1st October sparkling many criticisms and little appreciation across the globe. The electronic media telecast its ceremonial functions lively soothing our eyes. The first satire China faces is its capitalist economy under communist rule and next one is human rights condition with particular reference to Tibet. The print media continue publishing articles mostly with criticism. But I want to throw some light on the theme from a different point of view. The People’s Republic of China is a huge country with 1.3 billion populations and an area of 9.6 million square kilometers having one fifth of the world’s population and third largest country by total area. To run everything smoothly in a gigantic country like China is not an easy matter. The People’s Republic of China has administrative control over twenty-two provinces and considers Taiwan to be its twenty-third province. The twenty-two provinces, five autonomous regions and four municipalities can be collectively referred to as ‘ mainland China’ there are two Special Administrative Regions such as Hong Kong and Macau that enjoy considerable autonomy. China borders fourteen countries. Currently the international situation is undergoing complex and deep changes. China is ready together with other countries to enhance coordination and cooperation and exert active efforts to establish a fair and rational new international political and economic order and achieve lasting peace and universal prosperity in the globe.
For over four thousand years, China’s political system was based on hereditary monarchies. The first of these dynasties was the Xia but it was later the Qin Dynasty who first unified China in 221 BC. The last dynasty, the Qing ended in 1911 with the founding of the Republic of China by the Nationalist Kuomintang. The first half of the 20the century witnessed China plunged into a period of disunity and civil wars that divided the country into two main political camps namely Kuomintang and the Communists. Major hostilities ended in 1949, when the People’s Republic of China was established in mainland China by the victorious Communists. The Koumintan-led Republic of Chinese Government retreated to Taipei, its jurisdiction now limited to Taiwan and several outlying islands. As of today the Peoples Republic of China is still involved in disputes with the ROC over the issues of sovereignty and political status of Taiwan
On 1 October 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic of China. In 1966, Mao and his allies launched the Cultural Revolution which would last until Mao’s death a decade later. The Cultural Revolution, motivated by power struggle within the Party and a fear of the Soviet Union, led to a major upheaval in Chinese society. In 1972, at the peak of the Sino-Soviet split, Mao and Zhou Enlai met Richard Nixon in Beijing to establish relations replacing the Republic of China for China’s membership of the United Nations and permanent membership of the Security Council. After Mao’s death in 1976 and the arrest of the Gang of Four, blamed for the excess of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping quickly wrested power from Mao’s anointed successor Hua Guofeng, although he never became the head of the party or state himself. Deng was in fact the Permanent leader of China at that time; his influence within the party led the country to economic reforms of significant magnitude. The communist Party subsequently loosed governmental control over citizen’s personal lives and the communes were disabled with many peasants receiving multiple land leases which greatly increased incentives and agricultural production.


Following Mao’s death and the end of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping and the new Chinese leadership began to reform the economy and move to a market –oriented mixed economy under one-party rule. China’s economy is mainly characterized as a market economy based on private property ownership. Collectivization of the agriculture was dismantled and farmlands were privatized to increase productivity. A wide variety of small-scale enterprises were encouraged while the government relaxed price controls and promoted foreign investment. Foreign trade was focused upon as a major vehicle of growth, which led to the creation of Special Economic Zones first in Shenzhen and the then in other Chinese cities. In efficient state-owned enterprises were restricted by introducing western-style management system and the unprofitable ones were closed, resulting in massive job losses.
Since economic liberalization began in 1978, the PRC’s investment and export-led economy has grown 70 times bigger and is the fastest growing major economy in the world. It now has the world’s third largest nominal GDP at 30 trillion yuan although its per capita income of US$3300 is still low and puts the PRC behind roughly a hundred countries. The PRC’s rapid growth managed to pull hundreds of millions of its people out of poverty since 1978. Today, about 10% of the Chinese population down from 64% in 1978 lives below the poverty line of US$ 1 per day . More than 90% of the population is literate compared to 20% in 1950.Urban unemployment declined to 4 percent by the end of 2007. In February 2006 the government advanced its basic education goal by pledging to provide completely free nine-year education including textbooks and fees in the poorer western provinces and it was set in 1986. Since the early 1950s the Communist party started the Patriotic Health Campaign aiming at improving sanitation and hygiene as well as attacking several diseases. This has shown major results as disease like cholera, typhoid and scarlet fever were nearly eradicated. With economic reform after 1978, the health of the Chinese public improved rapidly because of better nutrition and free public health services provide in the countryside. The country’s life expectancy at birth jumped about 35 years in 1949 to 73.18 years in 2008 and infant mortality went down from 300 per thousand in the 1950s to about 23 per thousand in 2006
China’s importance in the world today is reflected through its role as the whorl’s third largest economy and a permanent member of the UN Security council as well as being a member of several other multilateral organizations including the WTO, APEC, East Asia Summit and Shanhai cooperation Organization. In addition, it is a recognized nuclear weapons state and has the world’s largest standing army with the third largest defense budget. China has 2.3 million active troops; the People’s Liberation Army is the largest military in the world. The PLA consist of an army, navy, air force and strategic nuclear force. The officially announced budget of the PLA for 2009 was $70 billion. Since the introduction of market-based economic reforms in 1978 China has become one of the world’s fastest growing economies and the world’s second largest exporter and the third largest importer of goods. Rapid industrialization has reduced its poverty rate from 53% in 1981 to 8%in 2001. However, the PRC is now faced with a number of other problems including a rapidly aging population due to the one-child policy a widening rural urban income gap and environmental degradation. Another concern is that certain sectors of society are not sufficiently benefiting from the PRC’s economic development. As a result, under the current President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, the PRC has initiated policies to address these issues of equitable distribution of resources .The living standards in urban areas have seen extremely large improvements and freedom continues to expand making less scope for criticism by the outside world.
While accompanying a rapid economic rise, the Peoples Republic of China since the 1990s seeks to maintain a policy of quiet diplomacy with its neighbours. It does so by keeping economic growth steady and participating in regional organizations and cultivating bi-lateral relations in order to ease suspicion over China’s burgeoning military capabilities. China has started a policy of wooing African nations for trade and bilateral co-operations. Now discussions in various corners throw the question whether China will become a new superpower in the 21st century. To counter the imperialists the emerging superpower may not be quite unexpected.

Md. Masum Billah
Senior Manager: BRAC Education Programme, PACE
(regularly writes on various national and international issues)
Phone: 9355253 (res), 01714-091431(cell)
Email: mmbillah2000@yahoo.com