This is a potent mix of ignorance, hubris and xenophobia. No wonder that Trump supporters were so confident of a trade deal in which Xi Jinping would surrender unconditionally and quickly. While it's true that China as whole has a long way to go to in terms of GDP-per-capita, many big cities in China are essentially "developed economies." And China has surpassed the US in many areas and is closing in rapidly in other areas.
If you don't know your competitor, you're certain to lose the game. So here are some quick statistics on China's global leadership:
- #1 in exports (been so since 2009 when it overtook Germany)
- #1 in manufacturing value added (been so since 2010 when China took the crown from the US, which had been #1 for the previous 110 years)
- #1 in foreign exchange reserves (>$3 trillion)
- #1 holder of US debt (>$1 trillion)
- #1 trade partner for 130 countries
- #1 in PPP GDP (been so since 2014 when it surpassed the US)
- #1 in contribution to global GDP growth for the past decade (25-35%, which is twice that of the US). That is, if the world GDP grows by $100, then $25-$35 comes from China.
- #1 in Middle Class population (350 million in 2018; and it overtook the US in 2015)
- #1 in poverty elimination (800 million lifted out of extreme poverty)
- #1 retail market in the world by 2019 ($5.6 trillion)
- #1 in e-commerce (42% of world market)
- #1 in personal luxury goods sales (35% of global market)
- #1 luxury car market (Example: 400,000 BMWs manufactured in China in 2017)
- #1 in international tourism spending (In 2010, Chinese tourists spent half as much as Americans; and by 2017, China was spending twice as much as the US)
- #1 in smartphones (Chinese brands have 40% of the global market)
- #1 in 4G mobile network (1.2 billion users)
- #1 in Internet users (830 million people), fiber-optic broadband users (320 million)
- #1 in solar, wind and hydroelectric power (link)
- #1 in electric cars - manufacturing and sales (link)
- #1 in steel, cement, aluminum production (link, link, link)
- #1 in manufacturing of conventional cars (>26 million per year)
- #1 in consumer drones (70% of global market)
- #1 in skyscrapers (link)
- #1 in high-speed railways or bullet trains (30,000 Km or 18,000 miles)
- #1 in supercomputers (227 out of the 500 supercomputers are Chinese)
- #1 in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) college graduates (4x as many as the US)
- #1 in scientific publications (link)
- #1 in mobile payments (50x larger than the US)
- #1 in 5G (China owns about 40% of 5G patents, and the world's leading 5G vendor and patent holder is none other than Huawei)
And China is right behind the US in many areas: - #2 in nominal GDP ($13.5 trillion in 2018)
- #2 in billionaires (about 400 billionaires)
- #2 in millionaires (3.5 million millionaires)
- #2 stock market, by market cap (overtook Japan in 2014, became #3 in 2018 and is about to be #2 again in 2019)
- #2 importer ($2.1 trillion)
- #2 in international patents - according to WIPO (#1 if patents filed in China are included)
- #2 in R&D spending - according to US National Science Board (#1 if measured by purchasing power)
- #2 in Unicorns (startup companies worth more than $1 billion. 142 in China versus 175 in US)
- #2 in VC Funding ($100 billion of venture capital funding for about 2,900 startups)
- #1 in Artificial Intelligence (AI) funding, startups and publications (link, link)
- #2 in number of satellites in orbit/space (280 satellites as of 2018)
Reader Comments
Right Patrick ??
In contrast, the very same companies could have also engineered and specified robust, well-built products that were still made in China - but that would go against the shareholder's best interests. Consumer satisfaction was never the goal by outsourcing manufacturing in China - maximizing profits was.
Chinese companies know the difference, however, and they have been coming into their own by providing better, advanced, low-cost products around the world; simply bypassing greedy, double-dipping Western companies and selling directly to consumers through modern, high-tech companies and direct supply chains. This has presented itself in cell phones, gadgets, cars, appliances, etc. and will trickle down to everyday consumer products as new market avenues present themselves. What do you think the trade war is really for?
The bigger problem is the people. Either all individuality and creativity is breeded out of them, or they never had it in the first place. The Chinese culture is a culture of conformity and submission, from Lao Tse to Mao Tse Tung. And more so under the rule of the turbocapitalist communists. That's why the Chinese are great in copying things (and perhaps can do some improvements), but do not innovate. Copying requires technical skills you can learn. You cannot learn ideas. You cannot learn to think differently under such heavy pressure to conform. They are the epitome of stasis.
— Global venture capitalists invested $100 BILLION in Chinese startups last year.
— China leads the world in patents & science publications
— China owns 40% of 5G patents
And going back centuries, China invented compass, paper, paper money, gun powder etc.
Your arrogance and ignorance are so deep rooted, you don’t even recognize them 🙄
A relevant passage from AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order : This, the author goes on to explain, is part and parcel of why China's now forging ahead of the West (in the author's sphere of competence anyway, Internet companies and AI).
As for your lack of history and rambling about the Catholic Church ... wow. It’s like talking to Beavis & Butthead
>> China owning 40% of 5G patents means that countries and corporations all over the world have to pay China billions of dollars licensing fees every year to use 5G phones & infrastructure
Counterquestion: have you heard about historical revisionism ? Or people like Newton, Harduin, Edwin Johnson, Marozov, Formenko ?
It is a fact that for centuries, historiography was under control of the catholic church - which had (and has) an agenda. Research the supposed founder of the modern-day historigraphy, the Jesuit Scaliger. Does he seem like a trustworthy chap ? Or the incredible medieval stories about the "discovery" and "re-production" of Roman/Greek antique books. Or can you explain how Carolus Magnus made it from Milano to Aachen in one day, on horseback ?
Nothing fishy there ... ???
It's the classic Eurocentric worldview: that Europe/the West was/is uniquely dynamic, while all else is static, requiring, or justifying, the 'impregnation of civilization'. I don't blame you for believing that to be the case; it infuses everything in Western culture.
Heck, non-Westerners themselves tend to believe it also, though they're leaving that church in ever-higher numbers these days.
This reassessment of the prevailing assumptions about the 'rise of The West' is very much part of a body of dissenting work, i.e. not official history - 'historical revisionism' even.
I don't have stars in my eyes about it; I'm just looking at the numbers. China is four USAs simultaneously industrializing and transitioning to a modern consumer-driven services-based economy, in less than a quarter of the time.
I'm open to the possibility that the global result could be a turn for the worse - perhaps some kind of global totalitarianism-lite. Not necessarily enforced or led by China, but the result of some 'peaceful compromise' with the incumbent 'Masters of the Universe'.