China as a Superpower

Will China Soon Become a Threatening Superpower? The military issue with China is a major current topic. The introduction describes China’s economic history and how during the 1700’s Europe began to outgrow China industrially. China then gradually began to recover in 1911. Later, in the 1980s, China chose to start increasing the military forces first and soon became the largest military power with 4.2 million troops. The author explains that although their military flourishes, it is quite possible to argue that China is economically poor with their 2006 GDP being less than one twentieth of the U.S per capita GDP. The two articles in the Taking Sides book deals with China’s intentions of expanding their military. John Tkacik Jr. believes that China is planning on challenging the U.S. as a superpower. He bases his argument off of China’s increased military budget. While Samuel A. Bleicher views China as trying to better themselves by increasing their military power, not to contend with the U.S. John Tkacik explains that China is obviously becoming a threat. China claimed to increase their military budget 17.8 percent to $45 billion. Tkacik states that China’s military spending is more near the $450 billion range, far more than they announced publically. He predicts that within a decade China will be America’s only global military competitor. China arouses a cause for concern since they chose to expand their military capabilities during “peacetime”. At the end of his stand, Tkacik questions the reasoning Beijing would have in creating a machine worthy of challenging a superpower if not to actually challenge U.S. Opposing this viewpoint is Samuel A. Bleicher. He claims that China is still under construction. Bleicher says that seeing China as an emerging superpower is good for the media. If China fails in any way, the consequences could be disastrous for not only China but also for the rest of the world. He goes on to explain that most of the views on China