Sep 04 2007
China’s Influence Spreads Around the World
Published by Michelle Close at 7:45 am under
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WikipediaChina’s Influence Spreads Around World, Associated Press, September 2, 2007
Many articles about China focus on the impact of Chinese exports. This article takes on a different approach. It focuses on China the importer and assesses the impact that China, the importer, has on the economic growth of other nations. While it is clear that China, the supplier and exporter of goods has made a huge imprint on the lives of millions of consumers, readers are reminded that when one billion Chinese people demand a certain product, China often has to look to other nations to supply them with the parts, the machinery, the natural resources and sometimes the finished goods to meet this demand.
For years, China’s booming economy touched daily life in the West most visibly through the “made-in-China” label on everything from clothes to computers. But now, economic growth is giving rise to something more that can’t be measured just by widgets and gadgets - a shift in China’s balance of power with the rest of the world.
China’s reach now extends from the Australian desert through the Sahara to the Amazonian jungle - and it’s those regions supplying goods for China, not just the other way around. China has stepped up its political and diplomatic presence, most notably in Africa, where it is funneling billions of dollars in aid. And it is increasingly shaping the lifestyle of people around the world, as the United States did before it, right down to the Mandarin-language courses being taught in schools from Argentina to Virginia.
While some countries question China’s political and economics decisions, i.e; who China decides to trade with, such as Sudan, it is clear that China , the importer, has had a huge impact of the economies of other nations such as Australia, Brazil, Liberia and Poland. Of course, China ,the importer, does not exist without controversy. As the article’s title states, China’s influence is spreading even further and deeper into the world’s economy and some nations may not be catching on to these reforms and as a rsult may lose out economically. Be sure to read the article AND watch the multimedia video to learn more.
About the author: Michelle Close teaches AP Economics and IB Economics the Shanghai American School where she is also the CAS coordinator for the IB program. Michelle has taught in a wide variety of school settings for the last twenty years and truly values teaching, living and traveling abroad.
Michelle has been living in Shanghai with her husband Kevin and two children, Maya and Cooper since 2006 and she previously taught at the Columbus School in Medellin, Colombia. She calls Boston and The Bay Area her home away from home. 
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This is an important issue that we face today. China’s energy needs are growing at a very fast pace. They may start to export things cheaper to the middle east for favorible energy prices. While this may seem good, cheap Chinese labour could collapse the local industries.
China’s economy is extremly high right now and as the article stated, it’s people are demanding more and imports are becoming more important. Due to china’s economy growing, people are earning more money then they use to, living in huge cities and they start to feel like they can buy more goods. This rise in demands can’t be coped with since supporting so many people are to supply. This might end up in giving up certain goods and opportunity costs might rise. This could either slow down the economic development occuring in china, or maybe bring even more businesses or companies into china to cope with the demands.
I completely agree with this article; China is no longer JUST an Asian country, it’s “world wide” country, very much similar to the Great Britain’s description of “The empire (in this case the “trade empire”) that the sun never sets” because in these past decade, Chinese products and investments are ubiquitous. With the burgeoning economy, China’s both imports and exports has increased tremondously. China is taking resourse from all over the world, Nigeria, Brazil, Europe, Asia, while its exports are also omnipresent, including Europe, USA, Africa. In China’s perspective, trade has lots of advantages. Not only does it creates an economic growth, but it enforces or creates friendships among countries (it’s another tool for diplomacy) and like the article said, it trades to gain political power. In the modern century, the imperial periods have disappeared for more than 80 years, now we have reached the period when countries gain political status from the amount of trade and influences in other countries, which China has a thorough understanding of. However, one question that constantly comes up, because like in history, a “dynasty” always has its beginning, prosper and end, when and how will China reach it’s end or will it ever reach the end of its “trade empire”? I am certain this question remains in many students, economists and even philosophers’ minds because afterall, no one can foresee the future.
I also agree with this article. I belive that it is time for the world to turn their head from the United States and focus on China’s enormous impact on world trade. With the largest population in the world, it would make sense to have the largest import in the world to be able to provode for the people of china. However, in my opinion China needs to consider what countries to trade with. At the moment the counrty’s output, export, import and so on grow at such a fast rate, that considering who might not be a provider is overlooked. Along with China’s increasing export, countries with resources not avaliable in China are making big money, and therefor will gain power. What China needs to do is to use it’s power and influence more wisely, by choosing appropriate countries to put money in
The Chinese economy is really strong right now, especially with an excessive reserve, while the United States is loosing its status because of the expenditure on the War on Terror. China’s growth can be witnessed by the amount of exports and imports China consists of. It had been the number one exporter for a while, as almost everything is labeled “Made in China,” as the article stated. The reason for its heavy exportation was because manufacturing in China is realitively cheap. Plus, China has a plethora of tungsten, which can be used to make toolings. In addition, the Chinese government had boosted the production with the hope to be the number one producer in the world. However, with events, such as the Mattel toy incident, China’s reputation slightly dropped. Because of the considered disregard for the quality control of products, many people have attempted to boycott goods made in China.
With regards to its imports, China consists of one of the largest populations in the world. With that many people, there is bound to be more importation to satisfy their needs. However, China also imports a large amount of technology, from software to manufacturing capital, and it also import raw materials, especially metal, which it is low on. China is starting to do the low tier goods and are now improving to high tier goods.
China will soon become one of the world’s leading poweres, however, what it intends to do with its powers, no one can be sure.
China currently has huge and still growing amount of export and import, and this makes it a powerful economy. Seriously, taking a moment to think, it wouldn’t really make much sense if China’s just exporting a whole lot without importing for its people: although China can produce a lot, chances are it wouldn’t be able to make everything it needs domestically, not to mention comparative advantages other nations may have for those products. For example, I bet Brazil can produce the woods China wants at a much lower opportunity cost than China if it chooses to produce its own woods (Actually, I just guessed). It is wise for China to trade with other nations and import their product openly (Actually, this is just plain obvious). Anyways, I’m glad China didn’t choose to isolate itself from the rest of the world like it did several centuries ago (But that’s too long ago for an effective comparison). Actually, I’m just wasting words here to fill the page so I think I’ll just stop for now.
It is truelly scary, if not haunting, to find China’s economy grow so fast and impact the world. China now is not only known for its cheap products that contributed greatly to its income, but is also known for its huge spendings on imports from countries like Africa and Sudan. China’s rapid growth has seemed to be positive in the beginning. But as its quick ascent into one of the leading economic countries is being recognized by more and more people, questions on whether China’s effect on the world is purely positive is being raised. Sure, China’s economic growth has impacted the world positively. For example, its imports from Brazil, Poland, Ethiopia and Nigeria has improved the economy in each of these nations. Also China’s promising aid to Africa and Asia seems to make China’s intention pure and heroic. But is China’s aim as pure as it seems? According to economics, actions are taken only for the benefit of one’s self interest. Likely, China’s import from the other countries may seem like China is helping other countries’ economy, but in the case of trading with Sudan, in which the West is refusing to trade with to punish it for its military actions in Dulfar, China seems to be oblivious of the world’s view and is self absorbed in its own economic growth. Also, China’s investment into countries like Africa is only to secure its economic position on the foreign countries, to take over their natural resources as their own in the future. Sure China’s immense greed to improve its economy has benefited other countries from their own point of view. But seeing from a third person’s perspective, I’m not really sure if China’s influence on the world is really as good as it seems.
China’s economy is and has been growing rapidly for the past years. A lot of great countries have been trading with china becuase of china’s cheap labor as well as the rate at which china is producing it’s products. American is no longer going to be the country that all other countries look up to. China is keeping close relationships with its trade partners and helping those countries develop their economy. However, is china really a good influence on the rest of the world? From a third person’s perspective, everything i pick up now is made in china, yet the quality of these things have changed. China is now becoming a really powerful country and i hope to see it use its power wisely and not abuse it.
When an economist looks back to China’s trade history, they would see a vast difference in how much more open they are now. China used to isolate itself from the other countries like America, Australia, and Africa, but now China is trading with countries world wide. It’s import and export has increased tremendously over the years. A lot of the products that people are using in their everyday life are made from China. This shows how much they are influencing the people of every country. Without China’s productions, people would have a much different life. Countries take in exports from China because the opportunity cost of creating the product they want is less, thus, we rely a lot on China’s booming economy.