Ina Mae B.

Factor
BSED- 3C
Final Examination in History 102

China as the New Economic Power

For the past decades, the United States of America has always been a
superpower. With its powerful military, economic stability, and a leading role in
international organizations like the UN and NATO it is no denying that the USA is
the most dominant country in the world. However, the rise in power and
importance of China in the world's economy challenge the global dominance of
the USA. The rise of China as the new economic power is really interesting for me.
China had once suffered from economic stagnation especially during the time of
Chairman Mao Zedong where the country kept policies that were centrally
controlled by the state. The production, resources, and even the prices were
controlled by the state making their economy poor. It was also during the
leadership of Chairman Mao Zedong when the Great Leap forward happened and
it resulted in China's economy's downturn. Millions of people suffered from
hunger and many also died. It was also during his time that he launched the
Cultural Revolution and tried to reassert his authority over the country. It
disrupted China's economy because of the political chaos. However, the country
decided to break free with its economic policies and started reforming the
economy after the death of Chairman Mao. They started to open their economy
according to free-market principles and opened many investments with Western
countries. During their reform one of their leaders said " Black cat, white cat,
what does it matter what color the cat is as long as it catches mice? This means it
doesn't matter what strategy they are going to use as long as their economy is
working. It is really amazing how China allowed their cities to experiment with
free-market reforms. Their citizens are also encouraged to make business and
trade barriers were removed. China has emerged as the world's largest
manufacturer according to the World Bank.
 The rise of China has become a major threat to the USA. China is known
to be an authoritarian country and their policies are opposed to the democratic
values of the United States. News about how President Donald Trump argued
how the WTO is too lenient and soft to China are all over the internet. He said
that despite being the biggest manufacturing country China is still considered as a
developing country giving them privileges that they should not have. He accused
the Chinese government for unfair trading practices and intellectual theft. Trump
also said that China has been taking advantage of many nations. He also
mentioned how China's economy boomed after joining the WTO with the help of
the USA. The former US president even started a trade war against China. He set
tariffs and other trade barriers on China. China then retaliated by setting tariffs on
American products. Trump also suspected that the Covid-19 virus is a biological
warfare used by China to pull the economy of other countries. He even claimed
that he has evidence that the virus did not come naturally from bats but
manufactured from the laboratory of Wuhan in China. The pandemic caused so
much havoc to the economy of the United States. Millions of Americans applied
for unemployment benefits and many businesses shut down. We also know that
the rest of the world is affected by the virus. I have been watching conspiracy
theories also on how China wanted to become the greatest country in the world.
By trying to expand their territory. China has a total of 19 territorial disputes with
its neighboring countries. And ofcourse, the Philippines is one of them. They even
strengthened their military forces on the disputed islands that they are claiming
during the pandemic. Also there is another conspiracy that says China was trying
to make super soldiers. China is said to be having human testing and making
biological enhancements to make their soldiers better in military combat. With all
of these conspiracies and with my observation on how other countries are now
buying facemasks and other products to combat covid 19 from the country where
it originated you can really think what if these are really the ways of China to
dominate other countries.

China as the new economic superpower is a very interesting topic of

modern history because until now they are paving their way to dominate the
world.