(Thumbnail image: The New York Times)
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The numbers are in- and China is trading in bronze for silver this quarter, overtaking Japan as the second largest economy in the world. With more than 1.3 billion people and growth estimated to be a staggering 10 percent a year, this economic hub has got people talking.
Forbes reporter Gady Epstein says the quality of data coming out of China is poor, but it’s not the numbers that matter here anyway.
“When China... becomes a net importer of something, that is the vital turning point for prices going forward, and it didn’t take until the second quarter of 2010 for this to become true. This has been true for most of the last decade.”
CNN’s business correspondent Ali Velshi agrees, adding that China’s economic oomph is its own custom superpower.
Ali Velshi: “First of all, in 2010 economic might is bigger than military might. The fact that China is the number one source for our imported goods, the fact that its the biggest automobile market in the world, the fact that it is the biggest exporter in the world makes them the mightiest country in the world.”
The BBC provides some insight into the math behind the headlines, pointing out how powerful a jolt it took for China to rise so quickly.
Roland Buerk: “Japan has been stagnating. According to the latest figures from the World Bank, in the first eight years of this century, Japan’s economy expanded by just 5%. China though grew by 261%.”
Japan’s loss. China’s gain. On his blog “China Financial Markets”, finance professor Michael Pettis says that’s reason for concern.
“Before we get too excited about China’s overtaking Japan, ... we should remember that this has as much to do with Japan’s astonishing decline as with China’s astonishing rise, and that there is at least some small chance that the policies responsible both for Japan’s breakneck rise and equally breakneck decline may be being replicated in China.”
Looking at the numbers-- China still trails the U.S. by a wide margin-- with the U.S. gross domestic product about 3 times that of China’s. (CNN)
MSNBC’s Erin Burnett says- that could change- but not anytime soon.
Erin Burnett: “And even according to optimistic forecasts if things continue to go exactly the way they’re going now, no hiccups for China, they won’t be bigger than the United States until 2027, despite having a population that’s obviously significantly bigger.”
So is China the new economic superpower? Or is this news even “new” at all?
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WRITER: Mallory Perryman
