Is the Rise of the East Viewed as a Threat or an Opportunity?

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China’s ascension to superpower status has caused many Westerners to worry. They worry that China’s sustained growth will hurt their livelihood and economic status. Others, however, see this as an opportunity to exploit new markets and to further world unity. This is an increasingly relevant debate as many have predicted China’s growth to continue at a steady rate in both the short and medium terms. This paper will examine the reality of the potential threats and the extent of the opportunities. What constitutes a threat and opportunity is entirely dependent on the perspective so, this paper will assume the perspective of the United States for the reasons of size and influence it has on the rest of the Western world. One of the biggest issues concerning the Western world with the rise of China is the economic effect on jobs. Many American companies are afraid of the job losses created by inexpensive Chinese imports. The theory is that China’s seemingly endless supply of cheap and lack of regulation allows them to produce goods at costs much lower than American firms causing a shift of employment to the East. China’s growth has largely revolved around increases in manufacturing causing American manufactures to face downward wage pressures and reallocations of labor (Eichengreen, 2011). They worry demand will fall for domestic goods and shift towards cheap imports costing their jobs. With nearly 12million jobs at stake, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the US manufacturing is not trivial. Manufacturing jobs have taken a hit recently, in 2003 nearly 3 million jobs were lost and many of the losses attributed to the rise of the East. The perception of this however, is probably much bigger than the real threat. ... ... middle of paper ... ... Jan. 2011, sec. B: 1. Print. Lipton, Eric S., and David Barboza. "As More Toys Are Recalled,Trail Ends in China." New York Times 19 June 2007. Print. Elwell, Craig K. "Deindustrialization of the U.S. Economy: The Roles of Trade, Productivity, and Recession." Congressional Research Service (2004): 3-8. Print. Elwell, Craig K., Marc Labonte, and Wayne M. Morrison. "CRS Report for Congress: Is China a Threat to the U.S. Economy." Congressional Research Service (2007). Print. "China’s Environment: Taxing times Ahead The Economist." The Economist 29 Oct. 2011. Print. Bumiller, Elisabeth. "U.S. Official Warns About China’s Military Buildup." New York Times 25 Aug. 2011, sec. A: 8. Print. Bajori, Jayshree. "Backgrounder: The China-North Korea Relationship." Council on Foreign Affairs (2010). Web. 06 Nov. 2011. .

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