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Stumbling Tiger: Has China’s Rise Peaked?
[Real Clear Defense] Facts to consider: China's population is aging at a rate and scale that is historically unprecedented. That nation is expected to lose 400 million working age persons this century, and the number is already falling. There is an 18 percent gender imbalance in the country's population. China's birth rate never recovered from its multi-decade "one child" policy.

China's rise as a global economic power, and regional military power, is one of the fastest in history. China has grown faster than America for four straight decades. It has built the industrial and technological foundations for a rapid expansion of its military, to include world-class capabilities in space launch, and its own version of GPS. China's mercantilist economics have taken over entire sectors of other economies, including those of the United States. All this has occurred  not just with U.S. acquiescence, but intentional facilitation. America first wanted China as a counterweight to Soviet Russia, and then aggressively helped China to get rich, with the expectation that self-government and democracy would follow in the Middle Kingdom.

But the times may be-a-changin’. China's population is aging at a rate and scale that is historically unprecedented.
I may have mentioned something about this from time to time... ;-)
That nation is expected to lose 400 million working age persons this century, and the number is already falling. There is an 18 percent gender imbalance in the country's population. China's birth rate never recovered from its multi-decade "one child" policy. India will likely pass China as the world's most populous country this decade. China has just backed off publishing its economic growth goal for the first time in decades.

China is bullying South Korean and Japanese companies. Samsung and Sony are scaling back their operations in the People's Republic. Apple is a laggard, but is planning to move 20 percent of its Chinese supply-chain presence to India. India banned fifty-nine Chinese mobile apps after the above-mentioned border clash. Huawei has found itself on the Trump administration's blacklist, and its loss of Google on its smartphones has badly damaged sales outside China. The UK has announced plans for Huawei's complete removal from British telecom infrastructure by 2023.

China's export markets are flat on their backs, and furious at China about the coronavirus. Europe is 16 percent of China's exports, and is an economic and financial wreck. America is 19 percent, the Trump attitude towards China is no secret, and those views are gaining steam with both parties on Capitol Hill. Chinese exports to America are falling rapidly, down 17 percent from the summer 2018 to January 2020. This will be dramatically accelerated by coronavirus. No one thought this economic decoupling could happen so fast. Chinese global direct foreign investment is also down from $260 billion in 2017 to $125 billion in 2019. Why would China be easing up now on its Belt and Road Initiative?

On the military side, China's geographic circumstances can only be described as bottled up and vulnerable. China is almost surrounded by countries that are unfriendly. It only has one ally, North Korea, which is more of a client state. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Australia, and India are all on the spectrum from cool to hostile towards China. Most are allies or friendly with the United States. Many are armed with American high-tech weapons.
Posted by: M. Murcek 2020-07-14
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=576853