Risks On China Economic Growth
Ever since the death of Mao Zedong, founder of China’s communist party, his successor, Deng Xiaoping, opened the gates of China for external investments and companies that made the country an economic superpower.
Contrary to the communist principles that Mao fiercely opposed throughout his seat in power, Deng have turned China from a communist agrarian system of economy into capitalism.
Leading in exports and manufacturing has given the country a great economic advantage and in the world market. Overseas businesses, mainly from the United States, outsource their work force in China particularly due to the low labour costs.
In just a decade, the transformation of China has become a testament to its elaborate form of economy. A GDP growth of roughly 7-9 percent has been the latest forecast for the year 2009.
Business competency is also common among the Chinese. A good number of Chinese from numerous countries around the world has a lot of them make their livelihood through selling all kinds of consumer goods and most of their businesses are stories of accomplishment.
Even though China’s economy is on the rise, a lot of finance experts still see loads of barriers that could stagnate the country’s growth or even break it.
Economic imbalance is one of these causes. One of which is the urban and rural areas’ uneven development. Despite the improvement on the urban lifestyle, a lot of China’s rural population still come across hardships particularly within the housing and agricultural sectors.
This situation might somewhat resemble Mao’s “Great Leap Forward” where the chairman converted farmers into industrial workers that resulted to widespread famine. Today’s China, however, have learned from past mistakes and is somewhat mindful to its food production but more improvements are needed before it can attain perfect balance.
The political climate in China can also be a possible hindrance. So far, every dissent in the country has been suppressed with no mercy in its mainland and other places they allege to be theirs such as Tibet.
The way China is keeping Tibet under its control is by building infrastructures, encouraging Chinese from the mainland to migrate, and crushing oppositions.
Another province known as Xinjiang, home for big number of Chinese Muslims known as Uighurs, is also experiencing both economic and political volatility because of unrest.
The most serious of all possible causes for China’s development is climate change. The pollution and carbon discharge China produces has risen just over the last 20 years and has now overtaken America. The consequences brought about by this could not only upset China, but also its bordering countries and countries around the world. The irreparable effects of climate change will cause rising sea levels will certainly cause problems in China’s south, and could even melt glaciers from China’s western part and the Tibetan region which will flood towns and cities and also cause a water shortage since these glaciers are an important water source for various streams and lakes.