This post takes a quick look at how the downward global economy is accelerating a process that was already under way before the USA’s triggered the current economic recession. The process or realigning it’s trade partners is how China is shifting it’s focus from inter-dependency to North America and Europe to a new and different one in South America, Africa and Australia.
Chinese people embrace consumerism.
The topic of “China needs the USA†is a very hot topic these days both in North America as well as in China and while there are clearly politicized and nationalistic threads to it, there is also a cold reality in play. Even if China was to overreact and “close their doors†as they have done in the past, they will still need raw materials and food from other regions in the world due to the continued growth in population and large cash reserves. The demand for raw materials and some food grains will remain and grow, unless China’s tight controlling central government is willing to stop the momentum in growth of it’s middle class, which at this stage of the game will likely cause a national uprising or even a civil war. (more…)
