China's economic liberalization and integration into the global community

¶ … Globalization Affected China Positively

In this paper, we are examining the positives and negatives of globalization on China. We then analyze how a solution can be introduce that will address both viewpoints. Once this occurs, is when everyone will see how this is influencing their standing in the world community.

Over the last several years, China has gone through a major transition. What happened was, the nation used to be at the forefront for art and science until the mid-1800's. This is when the country would go through a series of: civil wars, famines, military defeats and occupations by foreign powers until 1948. It is at this point, that Mao Zedong was able to unite the mainland together under a communist government. Some of the islands surrounding China (i.e. Taiwan) were able to protect remnants of the old government. This is because the communist forces did not have a navy to be able to bring this area under its control. Since that time, the Chinese government believes that Taiwan is breakaway provenience that will eventually fall under their control. ("China," 2011)

Until 1978, Mao had imposed strict controls on private ownership and access to Chinese markets. This is when he died and the new leadership began to focus on liberalizing many of the strict economic rules. This opened the door for China to quickly develop and become a part of the world community. Evidence of this can be seen with the fact that the economy would quadruple output by the year 2000. This is significant because, the liberalization of the nation's economic policies meant that the standard of living and personal income increased dramatically. As a result, this is an illustration of how globalization has benefited the Chinese economy positively. ("China," 2011)

However, many critics will counter that China's growth has been at the expense of maintaining a terrible human rights records when it comes to: minorities, religion, freedom of speech and political prisoners. This has created tremendous amounts of tension in many Western governments who believe that the nation should have equal political reforms. As, they argue that this is giving the government the ability to build up their cash reverses. At which point, the communist's will determine what is in China's best interests. ("China," 2011)

To counter these arguments many free trade proponents will claim that economic liberalization will lead to political changes. The reason why is because, the wealthier China become, the more the people will want a voice in their government. This is when there will be real changes in the country. As a result, China has remained a part of the global community and has discussed these matters in a forum that is supportive of everyone. This is significant, because it is showing how globalization has opened up China and the kinds of issues government officials are willing to talk about on the world stage. To fully understand how this is a direct benefit of globalization requires looking at the way this has helped the nation and conceding the points of the opposition. Once this occurs, is when we can be able to offer specific insights about how globalization has helped to make China a stronger and more transparent nation over the long-term. ("China," 2011)

Arguments

When you examine the first argument (globalization has caused tremendous amounts of economic growth), it is clear that this has helped to transform China itself. Evidence of this can be seen by comparing the GDP Purchasing Parity with the United States

Table 1: GDP Purchasing Parity China vs. The United States

Year

China's GDP Purchasing Parity

The United States' GDP Purchasing Parity

2008

$8.73 trillion

$14.64 trillion

2009

$9.14 trillion

$14.25 trillion

2010

$10.09 trillion

$14.66 trillion

("China," 2011) ("United States," 2011)

These different figures are important, because they are showing how globalization has helped to bring the China's wealth close to that of the United States. Once this occurs, it means that China will be able to develop their middle class and see an increase in their standard of living.

When you examine the second argument (China's terrible human rights record), many critics will claim that globalization has emboldened the government. This is because the underlying amounts of wealth are allowing them to engage in actions that could be counterproductive to Western objectives in the region. A good example of this can be seen by looking no further than Congress' annual review of China's human rights record. What happened was the government's crackdown on human rights since 1989 has caused many in Congress to become concerned about their activities. As a result, Congress will publish a report outlining the abuses of international standards that are taking place in China itself. This is designed to bring the spotlight to these conditions and illustrate how China needs to change. To counter these actions, China has started releasing their review of U.S. human rights. This is in response to the U.S. report and it is an indication that China does not want anyone interfering in their internal affairs. Over the course of time, these kinds of attitudes will lead to possible hostilities between the U.S. And China on this issue. (Foot, 2006, pp. 77 -- 94)

The third argument, (the liberalization of free trade in addressing political issues) is highlighting how this will change China for the better. What is taking place is the improvement in the standards of living and China's acceptance into non-governmental organizations (i.e. The WTO) are actively bringing them into the world community. Over the course of time, this will lead to many different discussions about domestic political issues. This is the point that China can begin to slowly reform, in an effort to deal with these issues. Once this takes place, is when there will be change in areas such as human rights. (Gu, 2007, pp. 274 -- 292)

This is important, because it is showing how free trade has resulted in positive benefits for China over the long-term. The key in understanding what is happening, is that there will be times when it will appear as if the government does not want to adapt with the economic transformations that have taken place. However, their inclusion in international organizations is pushing the country to slowly embrace more liberal ideas. This is when there will be gradual changes in Chinese society.

Conclusion

Clearly, globalization has been having a positive impact on China. This is because it helped the nation, to be able to establish their industrial base and to improve their standard of living. Over the course of time, this has allowed China to be able to see larger amount of capital reserves and their prominence in the world community has increased. However, the communist government has been slow to embrace any new kind of changes (when it comes to issues such as human rights and military spending). As, they believe that these areas are considered to be an internal security matter that does not concern the rest of the world.

This has caused many people to become concerned about China's territorial ambitions. As, they believe that they were using free trade to help the nation to modernize and build up the military. Once this occurs, is when the government will become more brazen and less likely to negotiate disputes. This is the point that the chances of hostilities will increase exponentially. To prevent this from happening, the world community must demand that China continues with its reforms. This will be accomplished by the threat of reducing trade with them. If this kind of approach is utilized, it will encourage positive changes by focusing on these areas.