China is not the biggest threat to the United States in the 21st century.

Many Americans may not agree with that statement. I’ve found that China is seen as one of the scariest, most threatening countries in the world. China can be a friend of the U.S. on issues as varied as nuclear non-proliferation, climate change and development in Africa. In the words of Norman Kutcher, a SU professor with a doctorate in Chinese history, ‘When it comes to the China fear, people have to pick apart certain elements to find out where they come from.’

Let’s look at why Americans fear the rise of China and try to dispel some hearsay and rumors with fact.

1) We should fear communism in China.

While it is true that China is ruled by the Communist Party, communism isn’t spreading anytime soon. The last country to become communist was Vietnam, almost 40 years ago. In that time, several dozen new democracies have been born. Democracy seems to be winning this fight.

The brutal suppression of people’s rights during the Tiananmen Square Riots of 1989 doesn’t help China’s image. However, that was the China of 20 years ago.

In a recent interview, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said, ‘I believe that…we [China] also need to advance political reforms…Number one, we need to gradually improve the democratic election system, so that the state power will truly belong to the people, and state power will be used to serve the people.’ This is the future of China.

We need to look at tomorrow a little more than Tiananmen.

2) We should also fear China’s economic rise.

Constant information is pouring in about China’s expanding economic power. The New York Times reports, ‘In the last five years, China has spent as much as one-seventh of its entire economic output buying foreign debt.’ According to The Wall Street Journal, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner ‘believes that China is manipulating its currency.’

Newsweek’s Rana Foroohar, senior editor of business and economics for Newsweek’s international editions, said that ‘the Japanese … will probably loose their spot as the No. 2 economy in the world (and the No. 1 player in Asia) to China by the end of the year.’

All of this may sound grim, but the fact is that trade between the U.S. and China has skyrocketed from $102 billion in 1999 to almost $302 billion today. This is a good thing. It means both countries are dependent on one another for a strong economy.

Premier Wen backed up this point when he remarked, ‘We also hope to see sustained development in the United States, as that will benefit China.’ It is in both our national interests to help one another.

3) We should fear China’s growing power. They will come to dominate the U.S.

Now before we start changing from forks to chopsticks or from baseball to mahjong, let’s realize a few things. The world will no doubt change in the coming century in ways we cannot even imagine, but that does not mean the U.S. is somehow destined to become ‘dominated’ by China.

According to Dr. Kutcher, the other question Americans should ask is, ‘How would a multi-polar world make the world a worse place?’ Kutcher says that ‘people think China functions so well because it’s a one-party system. In reality, however, they too are plagued by infighting, backstabbing and other elements of fierce careerism (just like the U.S.)’

China’s ascendancy to the world stage has been called a ‘peaceful rise’ by Chinese President Hu Jintao. It emphasizes economic growth and improved relations with the world. Many in the U.S., including former deputy secretary of state and current World Bank President Robert Zoellick, have called on China to be a ‘responsible stakeholder,’ a nation that helps the international system.

This rise may lead to the end of the United States’ role as the sole superpower. But we should realize that this is not necessarily a bad thing.

China does not have to be the enemy of the U.S. China and the U.S. can continue to work together to solve some of the world’s most difficult problems.

In fact, the world’s largest economy and the world’s fastest growing economy will most likely continue to forge a closer partnership in the coming years.

It is good to learn as much as we can about this growing power across the Pacific, but we should not fear it.

Andrew Swab is a sophomore magazine and international relations major. His columns appear weekly. He can be reached at ajswab@syr.edu.

Published on September 13, 2009 at 12:00 pm