GlobalandMail....

[SIZE="4"]China speaks and the world finally listens![/SIZE]

Throughout its 30-year climb out of poverty, China has taken excruciating care not to alarm the rest of the world with its growing might. China's policy, said the architect of its rise, Deng Xiaoping, should be to keep a low profile, not take the lead, watch developments closely and keep its abilities hidden.

But with the global economic crisis threatening its dreams of glory, China is starting to assert itself on the world stage. In recent months, Chinese leaders have blamed the United States for the global crisis, warned Washington to maintain a sound dollar, and even mused about creating a new world currency to replace the greenback.

Though guarded, China's remarks have created such a buzz that they threaten to overshadow Thursday's meeting of the G20 major economies in London. Some commentators are saying that the meeting that really matters is the G2: the United States and China. U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, are to meet for the first time on the edges of the summit.

"Never before has China had such influence," said University of Alberta scholar Wenran Jiang. "When we see hints that China might get out of the U.S. dollar, world stock markets react."

Prof. Jiang added: "When we see talk that more stimulus might be coming from the Chinese government, the whole world pays attention."

China did not seek the spotlight. It has been thrust into it by the economic crisis. China's is the only major economy that is still experiencing growth, though the pace is down by half since last year, and the rest of the world is still hoping that Chinese dynamism will help pull the world economy out of the ditch.

The economic crisis has also thrown doubts on the free-market model of capitalism championed by the United States, making China's state-guided model look better by comparison.

"China is saying, 'It is no longer time for us to be lectured by you guys. Your model failed. We have to put in something that works better, both in our own interest and for the whole world,' " Prof. Jiang said.

China, he said, is in a much different position than it was in the years of Maoism, when a poor and isolated country railed against Western imperialism. Today, "China can say no, and they have the financial power to back it up."

China recently surpassed Japan to become the largest holder of U.S. Treasury bonds, securities issued by Washington to help pay for its rising debts. Flush with the proceeds of its exports to overseas markets, China has accumulated nearly $2-trillion in foreign currency reserves, about two-thirds of it held in dollars.

Understandably, Beijing now worries that the value of those holdings will erode as the United States tries to borrow and spend its way out of recession, potentially fuelling inflation and causing a decline in the U.S. dollar.

"It is a pity the U.S. is still trying to borrow its way out of a crisis that occurred basically because it has borrowed too much," said a stinging commentary in the official China Daily.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, for his part, said Beijing was "a little bit worried" that a discounted dollar would wipe out a great deal of hard-earned Chinese wealth. He said he hoped the United States would remain "a credible nation," an equally sharp barb when aimed at the world's only superpower.

Zhou Xiaochuan, head of the People's Bank of China, went further when he made a bold proposal to replace the dollar as the world's reserve currency, substituting a synthetic currency created by the International Monetary Fund called the SDR (Special Drawing Rights).

这就是世界。

其实世界早就倾听中国的意见了...不单是倾听...也非常关注中国对自己的影响...

倾听未必代表中国就有能力有机会做领导者...毕竟国际影响力和国际竞争力是两个不同的概念....

中国举足轻重的影响力未必代表就能在世界上和欧美国家争夺利益或经济霸权....

这个世界是平的....中国不是唯一崛起的大国...后面还有印度...还有南美洲...还有那个贫困落后的非洲(将来不一定就永远贫困啊)....

西方国家不会让中国一人抬头...美国也不会让人取代他的老大地位....还有高瞻远瞩,危机感十足的日本....也不见得和中国亲密得哪里去....

hehe...."benefit" is the key to build a relationship...for every country...no matter it is for oil or other natural resources...

《世界是平的》，没有永远的敌人，只有永远的国家利益。

[quote name='小巨人']《世界是平的》，没有永远的敌人，只有永远的国家利益。[/QUOTE]

I like the way you say things....

[quote name='小巨人']《世界是平的》，没有永远的敌人，只有永远的国家利益。[/QUOTE]

政治上的确如此....