Saturday, July 21, 2012

How and why it matters - China


Whenever there is talk of world domination and a debate ensues around which country actually inherits the status of being a super power after the end of the second millennium and the post cold-war reshuffle, the topic of maximum interest has always gravitated towards China. Sure, USA has also been there as the undisputed winner of the cold war era competition, but it no longer holds the position of "undisputed" and overarching decider of any countries fate.

The debacle that ensued soon after the dissolution of communist Soviet states(Warsaw pact countries), the capitalist empire led by USA(NATO) fell into a crisis of its own making. Nobody realizes that if a champion who is used to compete, fight and win every step of the way, finally wins, the glory of having won a difficult fight soon fades away, as no challenger comes forward to seek the same glory. In essence a fighter always needs someone to fight with or else the very existence becomes meaningless. Ditto with the world order in the decade following the end of cold war(1991-2000).

The downfall of the victors started with what was then known as the Y2K bug and subsequent dot-com bubble bust and it has been a slippery and uncontrolled slide for economies ever since.

While all of this was happening and everyone, as usual, was focused on the first and second worlds., a silent but spectacular dragon was starting to breathe out fire, after being starved into submission for ~two millennia.

The aim or agenda of the PRC(Peoples Republic of China) seems to be:
  1. to add the word - "Peoples" as a suffix to everything and anything related to and defined by the state. Like for example, Peoples Liberation Army of China - as their armed forces are actually called, The Great Hall of People - as their parliament is officially known etc., but jokes apart..
  2. The governing body known as the Peoples Party, of the Peoples Republic of China - mainland China, recognizes and establishes the "[[One China]]" policy which can be interpreted as having the legal right to own and administer entire territories under former Ming/Qing dynasty rule(16th century).
Strangely, the general populace of the world does not seem to actually know that the resulting dispute between PRC and Taiwan is more or less like two cousins fighting for the throne and neither of them is the legitimate heir apparent. Its simply not about PRC claiming Taiwan! The official name of what we know as Taiwan is .. guess what? Republic of China! aka ROC. And further more the ROC claims the right to rule over the huge mainland China by claiming the right of succession. Who knew!!!

Anyways, having given the background of just the later half of the 20th century, let us see how and why, the first and second worlds, have snapped up to pay attention in today's age and making note of every little movement the dragons tentacles make. These few points are not just sensationalist in nature but are genuine concerns.


China has 19% of the world’s population, but consumes ...
  1. 53% of the world's cement
  2. 48% of the world's iron ore
  3. 47% of the world's coal
  4. .... and the majority of just about every other major commodity.
  5. In 2010, China produced 11 times more steel than the United States.
  6. New World Record: China made and sold 18 million vehicles in 2010.
  7. There are more pigs in China than in the next 43 pork producing nations combined.
  8. China currently has the world’s fastest train and the world’s largest high-speed rail network.
  9. China is currently the number one producer in the world of wind and solar power, but they don’t use it themselves. 
  10. While they manufacture 80% of the world’s solar panels, they install less than 5% and build a new coal fired power station every week. 
  11. In one year they turn on more new coal powered electricity than Australia's total output.
  12. China currently controls more than 90% of the total global supply of rare earth elements.
  13. In the past 15 years, China has moved from 14th place to 2nd place in the world in published scientific research articles.
  14. China now possesses the fastest supercomputer on the entire globe.
  15. At the end of March 2011, China accumulated US$3.04 trillion in foreign currency reserves -- the largest stockpile on the entire globe.
  16. Chinese people consume 50,000 cigarettes every second …
  17. They are already the largest carbon dioxide emitter and their output will rise 70% by 2020.
Now, some more sobering facts about the same china, these are from considerably more reliable sources which I did mention at the end of the point definition.

  • China has 150% more soldiers than America does, plus a high tech 'Kill Weapon' the U.S. can't deal with.
    • China has about 3.4 million active military personnel compared to America's 1.4 million. Moreover, in some key spaces, China might even have a tech advantage:
    • After years of conjecture, details have begun to emerge of a "kill weapon" developed by the Chinese to target and destroy U.S. aircraft carriers.
      • "The size of the missile enables it to carry a warhead big enough to inflict significant damage on a large vessel, providing the Chinese the capability of destroying a U.S. super-carrier in one strike. Because the missile employs a complex guidance system, low radar signature and a maneuverability that makes its flight path unpredictable, the odds that it can evade tracking systems to reach its target are increased. It is estimated that the missile can travel at mach 10 and reach its maximum range of 2000km in less than 12 minutes."
      • "If operational as is believed, the system marks the first time a ballistic missile has been successfully developed to attack vessels at sea. Ships currently have no defense against a ballistic missile attack.”

Source: U.S. Naval Institute


  • By 2025, China will build TEN New York-sized cities.

"[By 2025,] 40 billion square meters of floor space will be built -- in five million buildings.
50,000 of these buildings could be skyscrapers -- the equivalent of ten New York Cities."
Source: Mckinsey, "Preparing for China's urban billion"

  • By 2030, China will add more new city-dwellers than the entire U.S. population.

“[By 2030] China's cities will have added 350 million people—more than the entire population of the United States today.”        
Source: Mckinsey

  • China already consumes twice as much steel as the US, Europe and Japan combined.

China is the steel market.
Even in 2010, as developed nation steel demand is expected to rebound, Chinese steel demand will still dwarf all other major economies.
This also means that China drives the seaborne iron ore and coking coal markets as well, as these commodities are key ingredients in steel.
Source: Posco Steel

  • If the Chinese, one day, use as much oil per person as Americans, then the world will need seven more Saudi Arabias to meet their demand.

    If the Chinese, one day, use as much oil per person as Americans, then the world will need seven more Saudi Arabias to meet their demand.
  • There are already more Christians in China than Italy, and China is on track to become the largest center of Christianity in the world.

Due to the extremely rapid expansion of Christianity in China, there are now an estimated 54 million Christians in the country comprised of about 40 million Protestants and 14 million Catholics.
Meanwhile, Italy has just 60 million people in total, of which only 79% are Christian these days. Which means Italy has 47.4 million Christians, a full 12% less than China. It's partly because 16% of Italians are now irreligious.
Source: Vatican


  • Chinese internet users are five times as likely to have blogs as Americans.

Yet these prolific bloggers are under the watchful eye of an internet police army:
"Although the existence of an internet police force - estimated at more than 30,000 - has been known for some time, attention has previously focused on their work as censors and monitors.
Countless critical comments appear on bulletin boards of major portals such as Sohu and Sina only to be erased minutes, or sometimes just seconds, later. In the most recent case, all postings that blamed corrupt local officials or slow-moving police for the deaths of 88 children in floods last Friday were removed almost as soon as they appeared."
Source: The Guardian

Well, where do you think India stands in comparison?


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