This week’s screening of Mr. Hu Goes to Washington offered commentators an opportunity to highlight areas where the world’s top two economic powers can cooperate.
Although agreement remains elusive, progress demands U.S.-Chinese collaboration on challenges such as the global economic recovery, trade, climate change, proliferation in Iran and North Korea, and the instability in Pakistan (a major trading partner of China).
But for all the talk of fostering enhanced bilateral relations, rhetoric about a rivalry persists. Many Americans believe the great power competition weighs heavily in China’s favor.
After all, when China holds nearly $1 trillion in U.S. Treasury debt, an inferiority complex can develop.
A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that 47 percent of Americans saw China as the world’s top economic power. Only 31 percent correctly responded that the U.S. remains atop the global economic food chain.
Why the misperception?
To be sure, the People’s Republic performance is impressive. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. forecasts that China’s gross domestic product—the value of the goods and services produced in a year—will increase by a robust 10 percent in 2011. Meanwhile, the bank reckons U.S. GDP will also increase, but by a more modest 2.7 percent.
Anyone who stayed awake in an introductory economics class knows those numbers paint an incomplete picture. Simply put, China started from a much lower economic base.
Coming to par with the U.S. means logging years of high GDP growth. China looks on track to do so, but storm clouds could be on the horizon. Analysts question China’s potentially overheated property market. Restive regions like Tibet and Xinjiang Province could be flash points, as well.
When one looks at per-capita GDP, China has to do a lot more to lift its population out of poverty. The International Monetary Fund ranks the U.S. sixth at $47,123 per person. China, sandwiched between Bosnia and Herzegovina and El Salvador, is ranked 93rd at $7,518.
Most important, an obsessive focus on economic issues clouds more essential concerns as the U.S. ponders its future. A vibrant economy is a necessary—not sufficient—condition to national happiness.
In her recent book, “Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities,” Martha Nussbaum asks whether we seek economic growth as an end in itself or as a means to more important ends.
Much has been made about the supposed need to emulate the test-driven Chinese model.
A recent story in the Los Angeles Times brought attention to the dark side of China’s drive to perform. Students feel they’ve become automatons, skilled at taking tests but not at more fundamental tasks like critical thinking and self-reflection.
It would be a shame if we discarded our system of liberal arts education in a race to the top and neglected the art, literature, creativity and social capabilities that make life worth living.
Even as the U.S. seeks to maintain its position as the world’s top economic power, it’s worth remembering why we seek economic growth in the first place. Setting aside the U.S.’s continued predominance, isn’t it okay to focus on the pursuit of more than just life, liberty, and GDP?