A multipolar world does not need a 'ruler'

• Source: Global Times
• [01:34 November 17 2009]
• Comments

It is always fashionable to talk about whom is going to supplant whom as the global leader in the "new" world order emerging from the financial crisis.

But in a multipolar world, a lone leader is not really needed. Neither emerging economies like China nor a superpower like the US should be the "ruler" of the diversified world.

There is no doubt that China is enjoying a robust economic recovery and rising clout on the world stage.

China's $586 billion stimulus package has continued to prove effective: The country's GDP growth rate is expected to reach 8.5 percent next year, while inflation is projected to remain subdued at 2.5 percent.

Expectations are high that China's GDP is likely to pass Japan's as the world's second-largest soon.

That explains why China is often deemed the biggest winner in the "new" world order, and the one that will soon "rule the world," as argued in Martin Jacques's new book, When China Rules the World.

Despite the "green shoots" growing here and there in its economy, China has far to go before the winds of fortune change.

With a population of 1.3 billion people, China's per capita GDP ranks only 106th in the world, and its population below the World Bank poverty line totals more than 100 million people.

But even should China's GDP grow beyond its current size — 6 percent of the total world GDP — or its per capita GDP rise above Luxembourg, currently No. 1 in that category, China would have no intention of "ruling the world."

The mentality of "China as the world leader" is indeed a dangerous line of thinking. Memories are not that distant of the time after 1989 when some Westerners predict-ed that China was going to follow the communist regime of the former Soviet Union and collapse soon.

And there are still many who regard the rising China as a threat.

But whatever the Westerners say, China is very clear about its path.

China is neither the savior nor the "ruler" of the world, just like any other country, even in the Asia-Pacific region.