China Surpasses Japan’s Economy – And Now Is Second Largest Economy In the World

What alarmist economists have been predicting for years has finally come true, at least for now. According to the New York Times, China surpassed Japan’s GDP in the second quarter. China has been on top in its region many times in its multi-millennial history, but this is the first time it has been the regional economic hegemon since the Dynasties came to an end.

“This has enormous significance,” said Nicholas R. Lardy, an economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “It reconfirms what’s been happening for the better part of a decade: China has been eclipsing Japan economically. For everyone in China’s region, they’re now the biggest trading partner rather than the U.S. or Japan.”

Japan’s economy has been lagging for the last decade. On the other hand, China’s has been booming. Ever since Deng Xiaoping implemented his Gaige Kaifeng policy in the post-Mao period, whose famously horrible policies such as the Great Leap Forward decimated the Chinese economy, China has been experiencing a rise of increasingly open capitalism. This situation has naturally unlocked the China’s GDP potential and given rise to a formidable economy.

Even though Japan’s economy was the second in the world, being worth 1.28 trillion dollars in the second quarter, China has a long way to go before matching America’s economy, which was worth roughly 14 trillion dollars in 2009. Based on current predictions, economists believe China can outgrow America by as early as 2030.

However, given that the potential for political instability to occur is too great in China, I personally do not subscribe to the notion that China is an unstoppable force. Be that as it may, America must figure out its own economic destiny before it can hope to stay the economic power it has been since World War One.

My own predictions aside, China is growing into a global force – it has begun driving economic dialogues in the region, and has become a prime developer of foreign nations. It has a huge economic presence in Africa and Latin America, and is currently the top exporter of raw materials.

What do you think of China? Do you think it has the ability to become an economic powerhouse like the United States?

Read the source article here.

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Chris Buchheit

Chris Buchheit was born under the hot Floridian sun during some year in the 1980s. There he studied school matters until moving to North Carolina in 1999. Possibly due to the fact that his mom had enough of him being inside all the time, he quickly got involved in community affairs via the Boy Scouts of America, where he learned the values of citizenship, morality, duty to God and country, and that the biggest kids get to boss around the smaller ones. Chris attained the rank of Eagle Scout in 2004, and still values the rank as one of his proudest achievements. Beginning in 2006, Chris began attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he quickly learned the value of basketball and poplar trees. Since attending UNC, Chris has been double majoring in Asian Studies, with a concentration in Chinese, and Political Science. When he isn’t slaving over his honors thesis, looking up a bunch of Chinese Characters, volunteering, or mindlessly browsing the same websites over and over, Chris enjoys writing short stories and novels. Much to his roommates’ annoyance, he also spends his free time learning to play the guitar. Above all else, though, Chris values God, his family, and his friends. For the future, Chris plans to apply to Georgetown to further his studies in Political Science, hopefully with a concentration on China. Pending acceptance into Georgetown, Chris would like to study while gaining professional experience in a government job in Washington DC.

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