China's Quiet Rise Casts Wide Shadow

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China's Quiet Rise Casts Wide Shadow

East Asian Nations Cash In on Growth

By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, February 26, 2005; Page A01

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With stronger economic ties between East Asian countries and China has come a rise in Beijing's political and diplomatic influence, according to a variety of sources in China and the region. Treading softly but casting a big shadow, they say, China has emerged as an active and decisive leader in East Asia, transforming economic and diplomatic relationships across an area long dominated by the United States.

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Trade between China and the 10 ASEAN countries has increased about 20 percent a year since 1990, and the pace has picked up in the last several years. Bilateral trade hit $78.2 billion in 2003, up 42.8 percent from the previous year. Chinese and ASEAN officials said the figure was about $100 billion and rising by the end of 2004.

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In recent years, China has contracted in a range of distant countries for oil supplies, from Sudan and Angola in Africa to Indonesia and even Canada. President Hu Jintao's recent trip to Latin America dramatized the country's new interest in that part of the world, traditionally a U.S. domain, including plans for $20 billion worth of business in Argentina.

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During the days of war and Japanese dominance, for instance, allied forces fought to prevent Tokyo from constructing a railroad from southern China through Vietnam, Laos and down to Singapore as a conduit for oil supplies. Now, Tao remarked, China has announced plans to build just such a railway.



Much much more there at the above link

USA better start making friends, and FAST . . .

ya did note that one line: "China has contracted in a range of distant countries for oil supplies, from Sudan and Angola in Africa to Indonesia and even Canada" ??

Go China!

suck that oil outta the Murikkkan War Machine!

Wait til they stand up and become the new giant of the world. Thing about the Chinese is that they have a long standing view of not being to warlike nor occupying other countries with fake wars. I'm not saying they aren't cutthroat capitalist pigs, they will be soon enough. China has always been about expanding the empire slowly and methodically.

This is a most alien form of system compared to our way of "defensive expansion". China might be 100 years behind us as far as infrastructure goes (we built all our major railways in the 19th century), but they have thousands of years being an Empire. We just got started.

a maglev train...second phase just about to go in.

My money has always been on China taking over as biggest superpower on planet Earth, I say by at least 2010. When you're around as a country for thousands of years, well, you just gotta be doing something right.

If the Chinese become as dependent on Oil as America has, they won't last much more than another 10 years. There's just not that much cheap Oil left in this planet.

devestate our economy, by doing absolutely nothing. Even if they simply stop buying up our incredible debt, the domino effect would be enough to put us right into a major depression. This house of cards that ShrubCo has build has nothing left to stand on. We would be in worse shape than Russia when their economy tanked, American's have gotten so used to imported foods delivered to their grocery stores, we couldn't even feed ourselves while trying to get our economy back on track.

They've made an offer to buy Noranda, and they are browsing in the oil patch. Big bucks too.

I remember in the 90's reading about how Chinese military expertes believed America's power was going to decline around 2012-2020. thank you GOP for making that happen.

it? Nothing. Quite the opposite in fact.

And Nixon started the imbalance by opening relations with China, which led to the offshoring in the first place. And then came Reagan...

And Bush I.

And Clinton.

Now Bush II.

They are ALL GUILTY of neglecting to resolve the trade imbalance. They are at fault, but as we have only one sitting president at this time, every American should be hopping mad at * for his incompetence, selfishness, greed, pro-corporate-profit, or any other evil mental state he chooses to exude.

Angola - Angola and China are to develop a joint oil exploration project in Angola's offshore fields and work together on building a new oil refinery in the Southwest African nation, officials said on Friday.

Angola also signed an agreement for "the long-term supply of oil" to China, the government said in a communique.


The agreements were announced after Chinese Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan, on an official three-day visit to Angola, met with President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Oil Minister Desiderio da Costa and senior executives from state oil company Sonangol.

http://www.finance24.com/Finance/Economy/0,,1518-25_1668096,00.html

You think they'll be a kindler, gentler super-power? Any super-power is dangerous, even if they're not MURIKKKANS.

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They don't have their troops all over the world (USA has troops in over 100 countries as we speak)

at this point, I'd like to see the shift of power go ANYWHERE but the US right now

China would have to go a long way to be superior in firepower to the United States,

and I also suspect that as they increase their power, they will still stick to their own Continent

Something the US obviously has no intent on doing.

I've never been aware of China trying to make the rest of the world comform to THEIR values -

And the USA's values leave much to be desired

In my Humble Canuk Opinion Anyhoo . .

:shrug:

China as a nation has thousands of years of history. These folks discovered gunpowder but only made firecrackers out of it. It took the West to turn it into a killing weapon. The Chinese probably also "discovered" the new world long before Columbus. They just were not interested in establishing colonies outside of their region.

On the whole the Chinese have not been warlike. After consolodating their country they primarily fought defensive wars.

I do not fear the Chinese militarily. I am not so sure what will happen on a economic front. Just the sheer size of the country would make them players if/when they got into the capitalist game.

What with oil issues, et. al we will all just have to see what happens.