The rise of China, should we worry?

China has been growing its economy and is rising to become a superpower. Its economy is expected to overtake the US by the year 2026 - 28. Given that China is an Authoritarian, oppressive regime with very bad human rights records, should we be worried?
China has been growing relatively unchecked, and even though it was continuously insisting that its progress is peaceful, it has been expanding its military, building islands in the South China Sea for military purpose, and claiming islands owned by neighbouring countries, as well as having border disputes with some countries.
China has turned into a big brother state, installing surveillance cameras on the streets of many cities and spying on its citizens, with facial recognition software, they deny access to basic services to those caught on camera doing minor offences like jaywalking.
China also committed genocide against the Uighurs, an ethnic minority, and banned all religious practices, which is a violation of one of the human rights outlined by the UN.
China has been entrapping poor nations in loans they know they can’t repay, so China has been buying huge swathes of Africa and other poor nations as a means to repay the loans, so that China can do as they please, build and develop on the land.
So, given all these actions, there could be more sinister intentions as China plans to take over the world. And with that, it is quite a surprise that China has been allowed to rise unchecked, or perhaps there is a contingency plan to deal with them that we are not aware of.
At the moment, the free west has all the advantages. Even though China’s military strength is still nowhere near that of the US, the US is weakening and China seems to be growing .
So in the future, if anybody is in position to take on the might of China, it’s India.
India has a comparable population size and is a fast growing economy. India can also have the potential to take over the reigns from China as a major manufacturing hub, that would contribute to slowing China’s economy. Furthermore India already has a formidable navy and is well poised to rise as a major power that is in close proximity to China.
Some visible plans are happening, like, Japan is militarizing in response to the threat of China.

But for now, and for the foreseeable future, as mentioned, the free democratic west has all the advantages. It’s the US and its allies, the UK, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Canada and Australia against China and Russia. The authoritarian ‘east’ is outnumbered.

There are those who argue that China already has a huge say in world politics because of it’s economic power. Norway 10 years ago felt the breath of this power - long story short a Chinese dissident was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

6 years later Norway made a humble public apology - “Norway fully respects China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, attaches high importance to China’s core interests and major concerns, will not support actions that undermine them, and will do its best to avoid any future damage to the bilateral relations.”

Bi-lateral relations were duly restored.

The CNH is already shorting the USD. I scalped a small profit this week, albeit it’s a slow mover, but inexpensive risk reward.

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