China, in the race towards world supremacy

Twenty years ago, China was still a fledgling economy, marked by evident regional and social imbalances and a budding middle class. Cheap, low-quality Chinese products flooded the world markets, making their way into people's possession through pound shops, known as "everything for a hundred" shops in Catalonia. When the euro was introduced, these popular establishments updated their names to "everything for a euro" to reflect the switch from the peseta, but over the years, it would be more than just the words written over their entryways that would see a change. Little by little, these Chinese-run shops began to carry new products too. The cheaply made plastic junk gave way to higher-quality products that were progressively better suited to local interests, and the metal shelves that were once crammed full of boxes stacked upon each other in any which way were cleared out, revealing spacious, thoughtfully distributed and well lit spaces. Today, these "everything for a hundred" and "everything for a euro" shops are starting to be few and far between. They've passed their legacy onto the bazaars, which are certainly full of low-cost items, although not as low as before. Likewise, the products, not necessarily made in China, seem to be of increasingly better quality. The shopkeepers, whether second-generation immigrants or locals, are likely to assist their customers in fluid Catalan or Spanish. Brandishing a new business model that no longer relies on the family unit, these shops have shown a tendency towards specializing in specific types of product, from DIY items to occasional tables and, more often than not, electronics.

This change in façade, seeming to chime with the Chinese economy, is the result of deep-rooted transformations occurring within the productive and social system promoted by the Government of the People's Republic of China. The image of an economy based on imitation, copies and even counterfeits, ever so clear two decades ago, is being taken over by that of an innovation powerhouse, with brands that in just a few short years have gone from offering low-cost items to competing with large enterprises from leading world economies. The development of 5G technology and the controversy surrounding it is just the tip of an iceberg that many would have been unable to fathom at the beginning of the millennium. Once isolated from foreign markets, China has since gone from supplying cheap manufacturing services to putting itself in direct competition with the United States, whose economy once seemed destined for long-lasting and unrivalled dominance, and all in record time. The trade war that irrupted between these two countries a year and a half ago gives us a mere glimpse at just how easily the status quo can change when it comes to global economics and politics, and, on the contrary, just how difficult it is for Western economies, especially the United States, to handle the arrival of new, seemingly unstoppable competitors.

So, how has China managed to snag such a leading role on the global stage? The Chinese government has often been accused of boosting its development by leveraging the fact that its political system lacks many of the restrictions democratic countries are subject to. The protests taking place in Hong Kong are a symptom of the internal tension enshrouding China. However, it is in the autonomous region of Xinjiang where the totalitarian scheming of the Beijing regime is revealing its crudest nature, and where the silence of Western media is at its most eloquent. Siege has been laid upon the Uyghur minority living in this region and, according to testimonies and official documents that came to light following the so-called Xinjiang leaks, upwards of one million Muslims are being kept in re-education camps there. Nonetheless, a staggering majority of the 1.4 billion Chinese citizens, having witnessed their lives leapfrog forward over the course of a single generation, agree with their government's plans and its behaviour even. The absence of democracy does not concern most citizens of the People's Republic.

China has also been denounced as a neocolonial power in Africa and Latin America, where Chinese investment has skyrocketed, although these claims fail to mention that direct Chinese investment on these continents still pales in comparison to that of the United States, or that their investment model has little to do with the former colonial rulers, some of which continue to interfere in the political life of many of these countries. There's no question that China is setting itself up to ensure access to strategic raw materials and future markets on these two continents. In similar fashion, it is positioning itself as a dominant economic powerhouse on the Eurasian continent, especially through the Belt and Road Initiative, an ambitious attempt at developing infrastructures that will allow China to regain the key position it held on the ancient Silk Road. The initiative involves certain parameters, outlined by Beijing, in favour of peaceful and enriching cultural and economic unity for all participants, including the major European powers. Certain long-time allies of the United States have endorsed the initiative, a sign that the geostrategic balances set in place following the Cold War are undergoing a complete overhaul. Needless to say, the fact that this process is out of the hands of Washington means the United States sees it as an alarming threat.

These exterior movements provide a window to the country's internal climate. The most recent plans put forth by the Chinese government have aimed to revamp its economic model, affecting everything from exportation, which was the basis of Chinese growth in past decades, to its desire to stimulate internal consumption. This has been interpreted as an attempt by China to remove its dependencies on global markets, although in truth this change is actually a sign of the consolidation of the Chinese middle class. The purchasing power of the Chinese people has peaked at 4,500 dollars per capita. Although this is a seemingly modest figure, the fact that the country is still characterized by significant regional imbalances means that a part of the population has a much higher consumption capacity. The greatest embodiment of this change is found in the staggering number of businesses worldwide that hire staff who are capable of looking after the Chinese tourists who have been flooding European cities in recent years. In fact, the greatest number of world travellers originate from China, although Spain continues to rank among their least desirable destinations.

The fact that 1.4 billion Chinese citizens are reaching Western standards of consumption inevitably entails a shift in the international order. China has positioned itself as the number one economy worldwide. The current trade war against the United States has shone a spotlight on China's ability to wrestle world economic and political hegemony out of the hands of others, even in such exclusive areas as research and innovation. Chinese universities are attended by 20 million students, a figure that matches that of the United States. Likewise, Chinese investment in research and development, the majority of which is private, is on par with European investment as a whole. Its investment is only exceed by that of the United States, although the gap is dwindling year by year. The same can be said for scientific impact, an area in which China, in just 15 short years, has garnered great strength and earned a second-place spot in the world ranking. Other figures are quite telling when it comes to the role that China will play on the global stage in the years to come. It currently boasts a major volume of e-commerce; it is tied with the United States in terms of the value of their respective unicorns, or start-ups valued at more than one billion dollars; state-level plans foresee it becoming the world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030, not to mention the fact that, by the same year, it will have become a superpower in terms of space travel, a sector considered key for the country's economic development. Let's take a moment to remember that the very first unmanned ship to land on the far side of the Moon in January 2019 belonged to China.

In other words, the battle for world supremacy, expected to ensue over the next decade, will be fought harder than ever before, and all signs point to China managing to do away with American hegemony once and for all. Does this mean that China is destabilizing the world order? The Chinese government's behaviour towards its international audience has been cunningly friendly and conciliatory, a far cry from the belligerence often shown in Washington. However, China has also been at the receiving end of constant accusations in recent years for alleged disloyal trade practices, technological espionage and financial manipulation, accusations which never fail to criticize the lack of political change in the country and the strict control that the Chinese government wields in the public arena. These circumstances are considered China's biggest hurdle when it comes to being welcomed as a legitimate competitor. Nevertheless, although China clearly has work to do to ensure fundamental rights, we all know that an absence of democratic values has never been an obstacle for Western countries wishing to ally with dictatorships of all shapes and sizes.

At the turn of the century, it was speculated that the current generation of Chinese rulers, at that time just budding young cadres within the Communist Party of China, could be the one to embark on a journey towards political change, a subject which had been taboo since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. But time would tell, and it did: the incumbent president, Xi Jinping, has perpetuated his power, taking over all top-level positions both in the Chinese government and the Communist Party of China itself. Thus, scant political change can be expected to occur over the next ten years, especially considering that demand for such change is coming mainly from outside China's borders. Environmental issues, social inequality, corruption and insecurity are the main problems appearing on Chinese citizens' lists of concerns, problems to which the Chinese government is allocating great effort, often through boastful national campaigns. What's truly significant is the fact that citizens are generally unconcerned by the absence of democracy; in this regard, the control that the government wields over the media when it comes to certain topics is crucial. The trust that Chinese citizens have placed in their government and its ability to overcome these challenges would be hard to find in the consolidated democracies of the West.

All signs seem to point to the fact that the ongoing trade war between China and the United States will have a strong influence over the global climate in the coming years. Washington must decide whether to accept that, on the international stage, China is bound to encroach upon areas that once belonged to the US' economy, population and global influence, and, thus, whether it will relinquish some of the privileges it enjoys or turn a blind eye to the changes China has undergone over the past twenty years and continue to view it as its inferior. An argument centred on China's alleged trade disloyalty and infringement on human rights will be the cornerstone of its attempt to overlook the proof.