The Beneficent Dragon

摘要

Many pundits characterize the Chinese economy, now the world's fourth largest, as a juggernaut that threatens America's economic leadership. After all, China's GDP growth in recent years has been three to four times our own, and its share of global exports has skyrocketed. At the same time, America's bilateral trade deficit averaged a staggering $18.9 billion per month in the first quarter of 2007. Sectors including textiles, footwear and computers have seen significant job losses to competitors based in China. What's more, the formerly cash-poor Chinese economy has now accumulated the largest foreign exchange reserves in the world, approximately $1,202 billion, over half of which is in U.S. Treasury bills.