Of late, China has been aiming to surpass the United States in its economy and military. China that has been ruled by the Communist Party (CPC) for a 100 years now, has over 2.5 million soldiers, airmen sailors– at least twice more than what the US, Russia or India have. With its potential as the manufacturing hub for many products worldwide, China has already defined itself as a global powerhouse, economically.
China is a nation with several entrepreneurs and tech heads who have invented gadgets that are used globally, and have an upper hand in the markets around the world. From home appliances to food products and from smart phones to integrated chips, China has managed to become one of the many global leaders. Speculations reportedly show that China’s might have the world’s biggest economy by 2028, surpassing the US. However, there are certain aspects owing to which the US will remain to be the global superpower.
Even as China has developed its systems to match with the US economy, the former has remained to be under the Communist rule for a long time. While China is a home to many unique excellent out-of-the-box thinkers, the closed political atmosphere has forced such think heads into isolation, time and again. The CPC allegedly has many a time restricted individuals from disclosing their inventions to the world.
For instance, the ophthalmologist Li Wenliang who warned the entire world about the new “SARS” like coronavirus last year, died of Covid-19. Wenliang went social on the web about the new virus and had said that it as dangerous as the SARS that killed many in early 2000s.
Li Wenliang and the Covid-19
What came as a shocker to the world was that Wenliang and seven others who tried to warn others about the virus, were reprimanded by the Chinese police. He was forced to sign a letter on January 3 last year that read “he severely disrupted the social order and tried to spread false and illegal information about the virus.” The Chinese Communist Party declared that it would beat coronavirus, however little was done to save Wenliang who was first in the world to discover coronavirus. Millions of Chinese people mourned after Wenliang passed away on February 7, 2020.
The detention centres from Uyghurs
The coronavirus apart, China allegedly stands accused of utilising its military for torture and execution of Uyghurs, a minority that is largely settled towards the province of XiJiang. The CPC has time and again had counters with the US on its agendas in place for the Uyghurs. The “re-education centres” as China calls it to “correct the Uyghurs” is involved in many inhumane activities to which the women from the minority are subjected. These are detention centres that the Xi Jinping government has established to forcefully detain the Uyghurs, specifically the women. Guards and “teachers” are deployed here to train the detainees until the latter agrees to prove their allegiance to the CPC. Many Uyghrus who settled outside China or who escaped such detention centres have shared their horrifying experience with several media organisations around the world. US last year warned China of restraining its activities against the Uyghurs.
When such instances are taken into consideration, it is very clear that China forces individuals to follow what’s preached by the CPC. Uyghrus apart, many citizens of China have realised that they are living in a country that has closed party system, and they fear that they are under watch most of the time. Unlike China, the US does not have such cultural and traditional restrictions. The US has a resilient political system in place that does not curb the freedom of a tourist, traveller, citizen or any individual for that matter. Yearly, at least 10 million Chinese students leave their home country to pursue their education abroad. Whereas, 51 million people from across the world choose US for a better life.
The fear due to close-party system
Never the least, China’s only significant ally is Russia. The CPC however has failed to maintain a healthy alliance with the Soviet Union. The closed party system in China has led to certain fear in many of its citizens, while the US is majorly diverse in all aspects. From music to movies and from travelling to freedom of speech, America is still people’s choice when it comes to settling. The title of ‘global superpower’ is likely to remain with the US, if it does not involve in “self-sabotaging” acts as it has done in the past four years, under the Trump administration.
