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Why I am obsessed with China

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Dassault Papillon
By Dassault Papillon | Jun 13 2015 12:28 PM
(If I've said all this before at some point in the past, then I apologize).

China's total Gross Domestic Product has recently surpassed that of the United States (as in last Autumn). The way it works is like this: the USA has 300 million people. What I've heard is that the average worker in the United States makes 50,000 U.S. dollars (don't quite know how accurate this figure is, but it's something like that).
Now, China's got 1.3 billion people (it might be 1.4 billion by now). The average worker in China makes several times less than what the average person in the U.S. makes, but their total GDP caught up because there were so many people.

Now, imagine what will happen whenever the average Chinese worker makes as much as the average U.S. worker. I'll tell you what will happen. The USA's total GDP is something like 17 trillion. China's, then, would be something like 70 trillion.

Ya get the idea? Once China rises, they'll be 4 or 5 times more powerful than the U.S. ever was, economically and militarily. The resulting power imbalance would literally usher in a millennium (if not an eternity) of Chinese dominance over the planet. Like, your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandchildren would live under the yoke of China. In my opinion, the threat caused by China's mere existence is so huge that the only ways to stop this are to:

A. Divide China up into dozens of mini nations.
B. Nuke China.
3. Destroy their economy.

You see? There aren't a lot of options here, and every one of these options is extreme. This is why China scares the crap out of me.
Blackflag
By Blackflag | Jun 13 2015 12:52 PM
I could live with a powerful democratic China with good human rights and democratic ideals.
Dassault Papillon
By Dassault Papillon | Jun 13 2015 12:55 PM
Blackflag: Before that could even be considered, China would need to undergo some massive changes.
Blackflag
By Blackflag | Jun 13 2015 1:38 PM
Dassault Papillon: Federalism would be a good start. Decentralization of power even at the most base levels would be a major step in the right direction
Dassault Papillon
By Dassault Papillon | Jun 13 2015 2:14 PM
Blackflag: Also, the Communist Party of China would have to stop being the country's only legal party.
Blackflag
By Blackflag | Jun 13 2015 2:20 PM
Dassault Papillon: Agreed. Right now they approved 12 parties separate of the CCP which act in a coalition. It proved to be a serious mistake to some of the CCP's hardliners because on several occasions the legislature defied the CCP when its version of the Politburo tried to pass laws and edicts illegally without the consent of the parliament, which was interesting considering the legislature was always more of a publicity tool than a body with actual power, so to see them go against China's top communist party leaders was a serious act of defiance.
Blackflag
By Blackflag | Jun 13 2015 2:24 PM
Blackflag: Anyways, my point is that the legislature already has more power than China's inner circle. While the inner circle approves people for a seat in the parliament, they aren't the first nation to do so. If change is going to come to China it would start there. It is reminiscent of Obama's red line. All the CCP can really do is make vain threats, and is totally unprepared and unresponsive to major acts of defiance considering the country for the most part has had these things contained.
Blackflag
By Blackflag | Jun 13 2015 2:43 PM
BTW, the US still has a larger GDP than China. Like, a lot larger. Almost double the GDP.
Blackflag
By Blackflag | Jun 13 2015 2:48 PM
^Unless you are going by purchasing power parity which is used for calculating the power of domestic markets and not the economic strength of the nation.
Dassault Papillon
By Dassault Papillon | Jun 13 2015 4:21 PM
Blackflag: PPP. That's right.
Dassault Papillon
By Dassault Papillon | Jun 13 2015 4:28 PM
But seriously, even if China were to become free, its existence would continue to be a threat to the world. That's why I like the first option (balkanizing China into hundreds of microstates). The average Chinese person could be wealthy without this threatening anyone, because China wouldn't be united. Of course, carrying this out would still require a military occupation of China, which would require WWIII, because China sure as heck won't consent to this.
Blackflag
By Blackflag | Jun 13 2015 4:41 PM
Dassault Papillon: I mean, you could say the same thing about the United States, Our population is ridiculously large.
admin
By admin | Jun 13 2015 6:04 PM
Dassault Papillon: You do realize that the same "dominance" such a China would enjoy is precisely equivalent to the "dominance" of the US under the status quo if this "scaremongering" were to actually happen, right?

I personally don't think living in a Chinese-dominated world is any better or worse than living in a US-dominated world. It's just a new hegemon. Big deal, whatever.
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admin
By admin | Jun 13 2015 6:05 PM
Blackflag: As if GDP was a good measure of the economic strength of the nation lol.
I'm the main developer for the site. If you have any problems, ideas, questions or concerns please send me a message.
Let's revive the forums!
nzlockie
By nzlockie | Jun 13 2015 7:14 PM
Dassault Papillon: I like China.
I'm good with life in a Chinese dominated world.
Blackflag
By Blackflag | Jun 13 2015 7:26 PM
admin: It is the best indicator we have, but by no means perfect. The ridiculous proportion of the US GDP compared to other nations gives us some accuracy when we make the statement that the US has some large economic power relative to the rest of the world.
Blackflag
By Blackflag | Jun 13 2015 7:28 PM
nzlockie: I'm not good with life in a world dominated by any country. Sure, I like Chinese Cinema and Chinese Food, but they aren't the only political and cultural entity I would want to be influenced by.
And would you actually be good with Chinese domination in China's current state? A totalitarian oligarchy with a terrible human rights record?
nzlockie
By nzlockie | Jun 13 2015 8:08 PM
Blackflag: What I'm saying is, someone's got to be the big boy in the playground. Doesn't really bother me who it is.

#smallcountryadvantages
Blackflag
By Blackflag | Jun 13 2015 8:52 PM
nzlockie: Great, I call for a restoration of the Third Reich. What about you?
nzlockie
By nzlockie | Jun 13 2015 9:31 PM
Blackflag: Old school, about time the Roman Empire made a comeback.
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