China and The United States: Competing Global Powers

The Levin Institute paired up with The Asia Society’s Center on US - China Relations for a fascinating discussion and partial screening of the ABC News documentary: “China Inside Out, Bob Woodruff Reports.” The film examined China’s unique role as an emerging competitor to the U.S in global politics and economics. It also looked at the interdependency the two countries have on one another.

Television journalist Bob Woodruff, who has covered many international stories for ABC News and is a former resident of Beijing, alongside producer Gabrielle Tennenbaum answered questions and provided insider commentary about the film.  After the screening, Levin Institute president Garrick Utley moderated a discussion with the audience that largely focused on China and the U.S. as financial partners, competitors, and co-dependents.

China Inside Out highlighted a few important examples of the dramatic shift from a one time communist society to a world power-broker. One was China’s role in re-building the civil-war torn African country of Angola. The Chinese have invested dramatic sums of money to rebuild roads, waterways, and train infrastructure. And in return, Angola supplies China with a much needed resource: oil.

The Chinese alliance with Brazil has also become more important in recent years, as China consumes tens-of-thousands of tons of the South American country’s soy bean crop. As the film pointed out, China houses 20 percent of the world’s population, but only 10 percent of the world’s farmable land, a problem that results in the country’s need to purchase outside their borders to supply food for its 1.3 billion citizens.

One talking-point raised, which generated much interest from the audience, was the idea mentioned in the film about “the Chinese way.” Some understood this phrase to mean China’s avoidance of environmental and human rights standards when engaging in business with conflict regions. To wit, what is happening in Angola.

Tennenbaum pointed out the Chinese government focuses largely on rebuilding the economy first and foremost, in order to raise the population from poverty, and as a byproduct, reduce conflict. One member of the audience commented that this, rather than becoming a global superpower, is what motivates the Chinese leadership. The U.S., it was noted, generally takes a more ideological approach when they refuse to engage with conflict regions.

Another key focal point was the dependency of the U.S. on China’s inexpensively made goods, particularly as the economy suffers. However, China heavily relies on the U.S. consumption of goods to keep their 700-million work-force employed. As several experts in the film pointed out, the relationship is everything from “symbiotic” to “the most important bilateral relationship in the world.”