Dominating The World's Economy With China's Xi Jinping

Who would have thought that one man could make a country that's once a victim of imperialism, to emerge as a global superpower that is on par with the U.S, Britain and Russia?

With population that exceeds one billion people and under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, China had emerged as the next major superpower country. And with just five years of taking office, Xi had improved the country's military and economic power which can make a fool out of the Western alliance.  



Growing up as a son of a Communist Veteran Xi Zhongxun, he spent his teenage years exiled together with his father to the rural areas of Yanchuan County during China’s Cultural Revolution. After finishing his studies at the Tsinghua University, Xi started his political career in the early 1990s and in March 2013, became president of the fourth-largest country in the world. Other than that, he is also the current General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CCP), the country's ruling political party, and chairman of China's Central Military Commission (CMC), making him the “paramount leader”

The Chinese government were filled with corrupt officials way before Xi’s arrival in the political scene. His zero tolerance attitude towards corruption had him punished more than 1.3 million party members, jailed top officials and even expelled his own potential successor from the political party. The purged on corruption had left him with zero political enemies which granted him absolute power towards the country’s wellbeing with nothing to worry about.

But unlike his predecessors, Xi’s foreign policies are more diverse and colourful, where he promised a win-win solution to both side. Since he took power, China received numerous outside investments which raised the country’s economic growth and offered plenty of job opportunities to its people.

During his visits in Kazakhstan on September 2013, six months after taking office, Xi announced the Chinese government’s multi-trillion investment plan that could change the world’s economy game by storm. An economic plan that was made to improved trade relationships in the region primarily through infrastructure investments.

The plan was to resurrect the Ancient Silk Road, called The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a new land and sea trading routes that connects the East and West. The “Belt” refers to the overland routes for road and rail transportation, called “the Silk Road Economic Belt”; whereas “Road” refers to the sea routes, or the 21^st Century Maritime Silk Road. 

“We should take an innovative approach and jointly build an Economic Belt along the Silk Road,” said Xi during his visit in Kazakhstan.

“The two sides should work together to build up a new Maritime Silk Road in the 21^st century,” he added.

Beijing says that it will lend as much as $8 trillion for infrastructure in 68 countries, which adds up 65% of the global population and a third of global GDP, according to the global consultancy McKinsey.

The BRI was indeed ambitious, vast and most importantly, expensive. But the project itself may benefit the country way more than others involved. It received mix reviews from the rest of the world, with several countries attended a 2017 summit in Beijing to praise the scope and scale of the project while several others grew suspicious of China's true intentions.

With more than 60 countries, including Malaysia and Indonesia, had already agreed to the project. The question that still remains is: Why is China doing it?

“The BRI is an ambitious investment plan that could turn Malaysia into an economic powerhouse in South East Asia,” said Bai Tian, China's Ambassador in Malaysia.

When asked about the potential good and bad effects of the project, he said that this is the best opportunity for entrepreneurs to make a head start.

“With the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA), Malaysia have nothing to lose if they agree to the BRI project, it will only benefit them more,” he added.

The New Silk Road: China’s Economical Weapon

You've probably heard of the Ancient Silk Road, the trade route that once ran between China and the West during the glory days of the Roman Empire. This ancient trade route was the main reason on how oriental silk first made it to Europe.

While the history of the world's superpowers were mostly spoiled by Eurocentric historians who not only distorted, but ignored the dominant role that China played in the world economy between 114 BCE to 1800 AD. With the help of the ancient trading route, Westerners can finally get their hands on the lucrative Asian silks and spices with lesser risks.

In 2013, China’s President Xi Jinping announced a brand new double trade corridor, which resurrects the ancient trade route and reopens the channels that connects China and its neighbours in the west: most notably Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

Also known as “One Belt, One Road”, the land routes, via highways and railroads, would connect China to major European trading hubs such as London and Hamburg; whereas the sea routes would connect the South China Sea and Africa. The plan of the project, as explained by Xi, is to kindle a “new era of globalization” and a golden age of commerce that will benefit all.

One strong motivation of the project is that Trans-Eurasian trade infrastructure could boost global trade, as well as assisting poorer countries to the south of China. Domestic regions are also expected to benefit, especially in the less-developed borders of the country, such as Xinjiang.

Five years after its announcement, new major infrastructures can already be seen throughout the world. For example, a new highway and rail terminal were built in Pakistan and Kazakhstan respectively, while a new sea port can be seen in Sri Lanka. Other than that, new fibre optics networks, power plants and oil refinery were also built for easier trade access with China.

The economic benefits of both local and abroad, are many, with the ones that is set to gain the most from these future trades are Chinese companies – such as those in telecommunications and transportation – which are now growing into global brands.

China's manufacturing industries are also set to gain the most in this project. Their huge industrial overcapacity – mainly in the creation of heavy equipment and steel – could be a profit-making in the New Silk Road. It would also allow Chinese manufacturing to go towards a more higher-end industrial goods.

A New Global Powerhouse

Some Western countries have been wary in their response towards the trade corridor, with some seeing it as a land grab designed to spread China’s influence globally. But there’s little evidence to even suggest that this route will benefit China alone.

There's no doubt that China is growing into a geopolitical powerhouse, even stepping into the spot left by the United States on matters of climate change and free trade.

As some Western countries move backwards by building ‘walls’, China’s action were quite the opposite where they offered openness and connectivity with the rest of the world.

In March 2018, The United States had tried to resists and challenged China’s economy game. In its effort to achieve what it believes to be fair trade, U.S President Donald Trump had promised in his campaign to fix China's “abuse and unfair trade practices in the international system”.

Trump initiated the trade war by increasing the tariffs on a wide range of Chinese imports including steel and aluminium, one of China’s main industries. China retaliate by imposing 25% tariff on 128 U.S products which including fruit, wine and soybeans.

The trade war had hurt the U.S’s economy way more than it is with China. For example, China’s tariff on soybeans had affected U.S farmers who sees them as their biggest overseas market.

Jamil Osman, 68, is an economy expert who’s worried that the trade war of the two countries could affect Malaysian businesses as well. The Rector and CEO of Insaniah University College said that imposing tariffs will only hurt both countries.

“While tariffed products can’t easily be substituted, they had to be purchased continually – at a higher price,” he said.

“One of three things that could happen in the trade war are reduced profits, which could hurt public companies and could impact stock prices,” he added.

Although for now, both countries are calling for a temporary truce and with a high-level trade talks expected to be held at Beijing on January 2019, some are sceptical that talks will end in a win-win situation.

In conclusion, the emergence of China as a global power had raised tensions among other superpower countries. With their military and economic strength, plus being the ally of Russia, they have become a force to be reckon with.

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