Love him or hate him... he's right

[UnderseaLcpl]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

does China count?

militarily speaking they are one of the more threatening IMHO

Yep, them too. China began liberalizing its trade system after Xiapoing's economic reforms took hold in the 80's. In less than ten years there were protests and calls for reformation of the CCP.

At the moment, China is exactly where other US trade partners in the region were just a few decades ago; Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong (even though it's Chinese now), Singapore, Taiwan, etc.... What was once a bass-ackwards hole of a country has, through trade, become a rapidly modernizing and prosperous nation, or at least in those parts of the country where free trade is allowed. The rest of it is still a hole.

In any case, as China swallowed up the market for low-tech, crappy jobs like textiles and plastics manufacturing, its citizens gradually became wealthy enough to do more than just work and exist. Demand for new products, new policies, and new freedoms was created. Even the poorest manufacturing workers in the SEZs make over 8 times what their counterparts on the collective farms do, and that figure will only climb as more and more flock to the urban centers and trade permeates Chinese society ever further.

The main thing holding China back (and pissing them off) is the byzantine system of trade quotas, restrictions, and tariffs seperating them from US consumers. Threatened industries in the US have spent the past three decades trying to keep China out through their PACs. It hasn't done them much good, as they're mostly being run out of business anyways, but the harm they have done to the US and Chinese economies in the meantime is considerable. It wasn't until 2009 that the restrictions on China's biggest exports were really loosened, and it will probably be another 10 years before they are gone. Don;'t even get me started on those lousy, protectionist, dinosaurs.