9781422275726

Afghanistan China India Iran The Koreas

Mexico Russia Saudi Arabia Syria United Kingdom

Nations in the News:

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by David Wilson

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Security

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Introduction....................................................................... 6 1 Security Issues........................................... 20 2 Government and Politics......................... 42 3 Economy...................................................... 54 4 Quality of Life............................................. 70 5 Society and Culture. .................................86 Series Glossary of Key Terms.................................... 100 Chronology of Key Events.......................................... 105 Further Reading & Internet Resources.................... 107 Index................................................................................ 108 Author’s Biography...................................................... 1 1 1 Credits............................................................................. 1 1 2 Contents

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The Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor is filled with a collection of terra-cotta sculptures known as the Terracotta Army. This form of art was buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE to protect him in the afterlife.

China at a Glance

Total Land Area

3,590,750 square miles

Climate

Very diverse, ranging from tropical in the south to temperate in the center and tundra to the far north

Natural Resources

Coal, iron, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, aluminum, gold, rare earths, uranium

Land Use

Agricultural land: 55 percent (11 percent arable land, 1.6 percent permanent crops, 41 percent pasture); forest: 22 percent; other: 23 percent

Urban Population

59 percent of total population

Major Urban Areas

Shanghai (25 million); Beijing (20 million); Chongqing (14.8 million); Guangdong (12.7 million)

Geography

Eastern Asia, bordering the Yellow Sea, between Mongolia and India

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Introduction A nation modern and ancient, unified and diverse, hostile to outsiders but increasingly stretching out into the world, ready to lead in the future but stuck in many ways in the past, China represents many things to outsiders. Some view China with exotic fascination; others consider it a bogeyman threat, and still others think it a model for success, a relic of the Cold War, a friend with deep pockets, or an enemy with an ancient grudge. Few countries have become leaders in the way that the People’s Republic of China has,hoping to become a global power withmilitarymight,diplomatic virtue, economic heft, and cultural exchange. China is the fourth-largest country in the world, trailing only Russia,Canada, and the United States,with 3.7million squaremiles (the island of Taiwan adds an additional 14,000 square miles).This makes mainland China only slightly smaller than the United States. Throughout its long history, the geographic area of “China” has expanded froma small civilization in the centralYellowRiverValley to an empire much larger than its current boundaries, waxing and waning as it expanded and came into contact (and conflict) with neighboring powers. China’s current boundaries are a reflection of Words to Understand Economic boom: Period of rapid economic and financial growth, resulting in greater wealth and more purchasing power. Gross domestic product: The total value created by a nation’s economy in a single year. Industrialization: The transition from an agricultural economy to a manu- facturing economy. Infanticide: The intentional killing of infants. Police state: A nation in which the state closely monitors activity and harshly punishes any citizen thought to be critical of society or the government.

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treaties signed during the 1800s with most of its neighbors, some of which were colonies of European powers. Chinese resentment over many of these treaties remains high: The period from about 1850 to 1950 is remembered as the “Century of Humiliation,” when foreigners—from the English to the Japanese—exercised control over Chinese politics while China itself lacked the ability to gain independence. The Chinese Climate China’s huge geography creates a wide variety of different climates. The densely populated eastern coastline is a subtropical climate, famously hot in the summertime and relatively mild in the winter, with monsoon rains that power river systems and rice paddy irrigation. By contrast, the southern regions are mountainous and much drier: The fa- mous bamboo forests of the southern mountains are home to pandas, whereas the Tibetan plateau is very arid because the Himalayas block almost all precipitation. The western and north-central regions of China are also dry, part of the large Gobi Desert that stretches all the way to Mongolia. The northeastern region of China, Manchuria, is much colder in the wintertime and receives modest rainfall, making hardy crops like wheat much more practical. China is the world’s largest country by population, the sec- ond-wealthiest country by gross domestic product (GDP), and a leader in many standards of living. It is a nation that has nearly completed industrialization , leading to record economic growth, and is now positioned to be a dominant spender and authority in the twenty-first century. For thousands of years, the Chinese people have had little interest in the outside world, but China today de- sires to be the dominant power inAsia and perhaps the world.This wish has created a natural rivalry with the United States.The two Cold War powers eye each other uneasily while their businesses exchange hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of goods across the Pacific Ocean. Traditional fears of Chinese nuclear weapons

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China is filled with several bustling cities, like Shanghai.

and their million-strong army have been replaced by twenty-first- century concerns like cyberwarfare and espionage. The status of China is made more complex byTaiwan, an island nation theoretically independent yet considered to be an integral part of the Chinese nation by authorities of both China andTaiwan. The communist government of the People’s Republic of China refers to mainland China, whereas the democratic government of the Republic of China refers to Taiwan. After the Chinese civil war between Mao Zedong’s communists and Chaing Kai-Shek’s Nationalists ended in 1950, the Nationalists fled to Taiwan; the United States sent its navy to protect Taiwan before the commu- nists could invade the island. China’s constitution declares that Taiwan is part of the Chinese homeland, and the Communist Party has come close to war several times in its history over the identity and independence of Taiwan. Unification remains a goal of both sides, but only on their own terms. This has led to a sit- uation where there is one China but two governments that both claim to be the authority of it.

Introduction

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The Presidential Office Building in Taiwan houses the president of the Republic of China.

Further complicating the territorial status of China are two cities, HongKong andMacau,which enjoy“SpecialAdministrativeRegion” status. This status reflects their historic ownership by Britain and Portugal, respectively, which each signed a lease to govern the two cities in the 1800s. These leases have since expired, returning the two cities to Chinese jurisdiction but allowing them to retain their own currencies,police forces, schools,and (to a degree) independent government. The status of these two city-regions today provokes questions about whether China’s authorities will continue to allow Western-style governance in Hong Kong and Macau, including democratic elections. Chinese history spans 4,000 years, creating the oldest continually functioning civilization in the world today. Much of its history has been characterized by the rise and fall of dynastic powers: Some imperial dynasties lasted centuries, others just a few years, creating an ebb and flow that correlates to Eastern philosophical ideas that time is a circle rather than a straight line. China developed poetry

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before some civilizations invented writing; a Great Wall before some civilizations built a capital city; paper money before some civilizations minted coins; and exploration fleets before Columbus requested three ships to cross theAtlantic. Its long history provides Chinese society with amuchmore grounded concept of the self and the present: China has outlived countless threats, and its leaders believe they will easily outlive their current foes.

Explore tradi- tional Chinese culture.

The Great Wall of China extends over 13,000miles.

Introduction

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Of these current foes, China can count many. Tempestuous relationships with neighbors, from Korea to India, have made China a country with a few friends but many rivals. The People’s Republic of China is by far the largest communist nation in the world today and the only one that poses any serious threat to the current global order established by wealthy democratic nations following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Despite founder Mao Zedong’s push for global communist revolution, many fac- ets of Chinese foreign and domestic policies are communist in name only. It has become clear that Chinese desire to become a preeminent power reflects national pride rather than the dream of Maoist revolution. It has also become clear that for China to become a preeminent power, it must leapfrog the United States. It is on pace to do so economically by 2030, although some experts question whether China’s military and technology has already surpassed the American bellwether. China has many concerns besides the supremacy of the United States, however. It is hoping to become a global leader in the dip- lomatic community, taking the reins at the United Nations or the

A statue of Mao Zedong stands in central Lijiang.

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World Bank, while developing a network of exchange across the Eurasian continent to benefit their businesses and their partners. Called the One Belt, One Road initiative, this trade network has re- sulted in billions of dollars of loans, investments, and construction: Optimists view it as a great initiative to connect the majority of the world’s population, but cynics view it as an attempt of the Chinese to purchase good favor and dominate business. Other criticisms, such as China’s notoriously poor record of human rights or its on- going takeover of the South China Sea, keep the Communist Party authorities from universal goodwill among the global community. China’s rise topower reflects its rapideconomicgrowth through the twenty-first century.Enjoying scorching-hot GDP growth, including growth at or above the breakneck threshold of 10 percent per year, China is in the midst of the greatest economic boom in its history, its economy having grown almost tenfold between 1978 and 2005. Thismeteoric rise in incomes and productivity has led to remarkable achievements, including the alleviation of poverty for hundreds of millions of people, and places Chinese businesses squarely in the center of global competition, research, and profits. The common perception of Chinese industry is that of smoke- belching factories; although there are countless such factories throughout China, the economy is headed toward a transition to replace industry with services, much as the U.S. economy is doing. Nine of the 20 largest businesses in the world are Chinese. Glisten- ing ultra-modern cities have sprouted throughout China, and the world’s largest middle class has provided a huge market for goods like smartphones.Growth has not been uniform, however, and rural Chinamore resembles a developing nation than it does an advanced economy.What’s more, rapid industrialization has had tremendous negative environmental consequences, some approaching disaster status. As China has grown, outsiders have constantly questioned whether the Communist Party will lose its grip on the country, just as communists have done inEasternEurope andRussia.Democracy in China has been a dream of Western diplomats and politicians for decades but remains just a dream for the foreseeable future. The Communist Party itself has made it clear that it will not share authority with other political organizations and that it will not relax

13 Introduction

Workers in an electronics factory work on exports for the United States and European Union.

its grip on the population. China is the world’s largest police state : Criticism of the Communist Party is not tolerated, censorship is rife, and the rights guaranteed to citizens in the constitution are all too frequently ignored. China’s appalling human rights record includes jailing journalists, limiting free speech, performing mass surveillance, imprisoning minorities, and disqualifying democracy inHong Kong andMacau, cities whose histories of colonialismhave left them withWestern government and law. Yet, for most Chinese, the omnipresence of the Communist Party is less important than everyday social concerns: what is happening on the latest smartphone app, how they can get a better job and makemoremoney, or whether they will be able to find a spouse and start a family.The philosophical ideals of Confucianism,which have guided most of Chinese history, venerate the family above all else and identify the need to have children and respect one’s elders. In the twenty-first century, Chinese traditions clash against modern processes: More women are choosing careers over family, more

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