JRMI: Jerry Robinson Ministries International

The Rise of China

China is no stranger to world empire. Throughout the centuries, China has demonstrated it knows how to ascend to the heights of global power. Napoleon once warned Europe: "China is a sleeping dragon. Let him sleep. If he wakes, he will shake the world." On February 16, 2005, a report was released by the Earth Policy Institute that confirmed what most of the world already knew: China is rapidly replacing the U.S. as he world's largest consumer. The report stated that “among the five basic food, energy, and industrial commodities—grain and meat, oil and coal, and steel—consumption in China has already eclipsed that of the United States in all but oil.”

China’s insatiable appetite for commodities is both obvious and frightening. The enormous nation has 1.3 billion people who all desperately desire the same luxuries that Americans now enjoy and they are willing to work hard to obtain them. Today, 400 million Chinese citizens have cell phones. That's more than the entire U.S. population of 300 million. As the Earth Policy Institute report concludes: “China is no longer just a developing country. It is an emerging economic superpower, one that is writing economic history. If the last century was the American century, this one looks to be the Chinese century.”

JRMI recognizes the economic and geopolitical shifts that a rising China will have upon the global infrastructure. Our ministry is actively tracking this trend and its effects.

Why this trend is important to Christians? The rise of China and its effects upon the West is highly complex. China's increasing resource demand will translate into increasingly higher global commodity prices which will affect everyone. China's growing economic power gives the nation the ability to affect the global economy in positive and negative ways. Christians do well to understand the importance of a rising China. In these times of enormous geopolitical shift, Christians should be prepared for the unexpected. While JRMI cannot state exactly how, and when, an emerging China will impact the globe, Christians should understand that China's growth is greatly affecting global economic and political policies. Wars over resources lie in the future. (Matt. 24:6)

Related JRMI Products

Bankruptcy of our Nation
A Book by Jerry Robinson

News/Commentary

China set to be largest economy (BBC)
China Takes on the World (Time)
The Chinese Century (Ted Fishman/New York Times)

Videos

Summary: A Post-American World with the Rise of China. Is the "Golden Age" Of American Influence Coming To An End? Aired on CBS Sunday Morning, August 17, 2008.