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The EU and the US are both economically stronger and more stable than China. Not to speak of the political and cultural power they have over most parts of the world. The US and the EU are individually bigger players on the global stage than China in most aspects. They wouldn‘t need to join forced to counter balance China. At least not going by numbers.
From memory, the EU and China are 18% of global GDP, GB is 3%. The US is the biggest but by PPP China is already bigger.
China had a $1 trillion trade surplus. The US are forcing the EU to buy their gas. China is growing, the EU is shrinking.
To me that means it is a matter of years until China is clearly number one.
Won't the current power of EU and US become a liability when China can offer the former colonies to finally break free from their masters?
China will never be number one just like Japan didn‘t when they ran with a similar export model. They have much more massive looming economic challenges than we do. If anything, India will take their spot as the global factory.
Japan was stopped with the power of the dollar. China doesn't even have the dept to try that on China.
Which challenges does China have and why should India be able to take their spot?
I’m sorry, what? China has a mountain of debt and the housing bubble is swallowing up any savings an average household could accumulate. Turns out pouring more concrete in a decade than the USA poured in a century comes at a cost after all. This might be news to some but it shouldn‘t come as a surprise.
What definitely shouldn‘t be news to anyone at this point is China‘s inevitable demographic time bomb that‘s about to go off. China‘s population is aging much more rapidly than any other demographic in the world and soon a huge chunk of their workforce will retire with way too few workers to replace them.
These things will put a strain on China’s economy that makes Japan‘s bubble burst look like a cakewalk.
The aging population threatens the economy but it cannot be used to contain China.
https://www.seafarerfunds.com/prevailing-winds/2019/01/tracking-chinas-external-debt/
A bit outdated but good analysis. After this year's $1 trillion trade surplus, it can only have improved for China.
The dangerous dept part comes from doing business and is balanced by their currency reserves. Both are in dollar.
The US government would have to default on their obligations while their creditors need the leverage to enforce their dept on China. Is that possible at all?