Will the US Allow China to Surpass It Peacefully?

[Junkdrawer]

It’s always a nervous time when the baton of Top World Financial Power changes hands.

In 1914, it didn’t go so well when a rising German industrial power challenged British supremacy.

However, many were nervous in the early 1920s when the US surpassed Britain, but deals were struck and it went fairly peacefully.

I was thinking that the US and China were going to work things out, but in the last few weeks there have been signs that maybe it’s not going so well. And the GOP “Chinese Professor” commercial is not a good sign:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x518593

Many speculate that the real reason we’re in Afghanistan and Pakistan is to show that we can still control who has access to oil. And now China is showing that they too control access to vital natural resources:

China's rare earth embargo triggers price hikes

A Chinese embargo on rare earth elements is causing a dramatic spike in the price of materials, which is expected to lead to a jump in high-tech product prices before settling back down in a few years, according to report released today.

Prices will increase rapidly until "non-Chinese rare earth mines are up and running, increasing product availability and thereby decreasing prices," wrote Robert Castellano, president of The Information Network, in a research note today. (See: Pay dirt: Why rare earth metals matter to tech (FAQ).)

But for the time being, Castellano points to some alarming statistics. In semiconductor manufacturing, where rare earth materials are used as high-k dielectric films and as polishing materials in chemical mechanical polishing, prices of ceria for certain applications have increased more than 1,000 percent in the past year. Ceria is also used in the polishing of glass disks for hard disk drives, LCD panels, and high brightness LEDs.

...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20022161-64.html#ixzz14pnNlrrY

And just today, China downgraded US Debt:

China ratings agency downgrades U.S. after Fed move

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Chinese credit ratings agency downgraded the United States' sovereign credit rating on Tuesday, citing the Federal Reserve's controversial move last week to pump more dollars into the U.S. economy.

As Beijing and Washington locked horns on economic policy ahead of a Group of 20 leaders summit this week, the Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. Ltd cut the U.S. local and foreign currency long-term sovereign credit rating to A-plus from AA.

The ratings agency, which warned it might cut the U.S. ratings further, said its move reflected the United States' "deteriorating debt repayment capability and drastic decline of the government's intention of debt repayment."

Tensions over economic policies between the United States and China have been revived by the U.S. central bank's decision last week to pump an extra $600 billion into the country's struggling economy which has further weakened the U.S. dollar.

...

http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-52789520101109

All in all, it’s starting to get me a bit, ahem, concerned…

[KT2000]

1. Yes

the US financial sector is confident in their ability to play the Chinese for a share of their pie. Corporations are sure their stake in the Chinese economy will carry them to profits.
They will not want anything like a war because they assume their riches are in co-opting the Chinese.
This is why the Chinese say America is stupid. History has shown they do no proceed with foreign partners.

[villager]

2. on the other hand, in an age of ecological reckoning, the "surpassing" isn't going to go well

...of its own accord, given the resources required. Nor will the "top dog" spot really last as long as it once did...

[mdmc]

3. YES

There are ways to work it out..
I bet China can peacefully annex Taiwan; that's the key..

[Pavulon]

4. Will china implode when old hundred names

is left out of the new system? That is a much better question. China has significant internal issues that will have to be addressed eventually.

Adjustment in Chinese internal policy, in the past, have involved death in the 30 million range.