What Should the World Know About China?
2 min readJan 6
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China’s Economy
- China’s GDP growth is expected to be 4.7 percent in 2023 and 5.0 percent in 2024, according to a Nikkei Asia survey. Economist Intelligence confirms this with 5.2 percent in 2023 and 4.8 percent in 2024.
- Morgan Stanley expects China’s GDP growth to blast past that of all developed economies. JP Morgan confirms this.
China’s Infrastructure
- China has the world’s largest high-speed rail network.
- China has the world’s most advanced mobile payment system.
- China has the world’s most advanced 5G network.
China’s Politics
- The Chinese regard their country as the most democratic in the world. Read Democracy Perception Index 2022.
- China’s government has the highest level of trust at 91 percent. Read Edelman Trust Barometer 2022.
- China’s government has the highest level of satisfaction at 95.5 percent. Read Taking China’s Pulse.
- The Chinese believe their country is on the right track at 95 percent. Read What Worries the World — November 2019.
China’s Military
- China hasn’t fought a war since 1979. No other world power has been so peaceful for so long.
- China’s military modernization is normal for a superpower. It is not a sign of aggression nor a threat to global peace.
- China has started to build supercarriers, the only other nation with this capability.
Diplomacy
- China has maritime disputes in the South China Sea along with five other countries (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam), as well as Taiwan. Most of their territorial claims overlap with one another.
- China leads several major economic alliances: BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership), SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation).
- China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is helping developing countries build their infrastructure and develop their economies. So far, 147 countries have signed up; that’s three quarters of the world’s nations!
COVID-19
- China is 91 percent fully vaccinated, much higher than all the G7 countries (USA — 68%, Canada — 84%, UK — 76%, France — 79%, Germany — 76%, Italy — 80%, Japan — 82%), according to The New York Times Covid World Vaccination Tracker.
- China’s Zero Covid policy saved millions of lives, whereas the G7 countries and Spain suffered terrible losses (at the time of writing, USA — 1,121,298 Covid deaths, UK — 201,028, Italy — 185,417, France — 162,990, Germany — 162,975, Spain — 117,413, Japan — 60,411, Canada — 49,566). China had 5,272 Covid deaths. (Source: Worldometer.)
Taiwan
- Most of the world adhere to the One China Principle where Taiwan is regarded as part of China.
- Neither the UN nor USA recognize Taiwan as an independent state.
Space Exploration
- China is the only country to land on the dark side of the moon.
- China successfully completed a Mars mission consisting of an orbiter, lander and rover (Zhurong) on it maiden attempt.
- China constructed the Tiangong space station and 17 other nations have chosen to participate in the space station program.
