当中国成为世界上最大的经济体时，我们会有什么感受？答案不用多久就会揭晓。 几周前国际货币基金组织发布一项报告指出，中国将会在五年内成为世界第一大经济 体。
随着中国日益崛起成为超级经济大国，一国的财富与个人财富的联系正在被打破。 中国既比西方国家富有，也比西方国家贫穷，它坐拥3万亿美元的外汇储备，然而如果按当前汇率来计算，美国的人均财力是中国的十倍。
美国社会的相对富裕正是中国成为世界最大经济体之时却不能成为世界最强国的原因之一。人们习惯性地把美国当成是世界唯一超级大国，这也让美国的世界政治主导 地位比其经济地位更加长久。美国在世界各大机构中都有根深蒂固的地位。有一个很重要 的事实是，联合国，国际货币基金组织以及世界银行均坐落于美国。中国由于经济实力的崛起而引发的政治问题，其邻国的感受最为强烈。日本、南韩和澳大利亚发现它们的经济和战略利益正在日益分歧，这三个国家都与中国有非常重要的经济联系，同时它们 与美国也有相当重要的军事联系。但是随着时间的推移，中国的不断增长的经济力量将 会变得越来越举足轻重。
How will it feel when China becomes the world’s largest economy? The answer may be found out quite soon. A few weeks ago, the International Monetary Fund issued a report that China would be number one within five years. and more heavily.
As China emerges as an economic superpower, the connection between national and personal affluence is being broken. China is both richer and poorer than the western world. It is sitting on foreign reserves worth $3 trillion. And yet, measured at current exchange rates, the average American is about 10 times as wealthy as the average Chinese.
The relative affluence of US society is one reason why China will not become the world’s most powerful country on the day that it becomes the largest economy. The world’s habit of looking to the US as the “sole superpower” also makes it likely that America’s political dominance will outlast its economic supremacy. America has an entrenched position in global institutions. It matters that the United Nations, the IMF and the World Bank are all situated in the US.
The political questions raised by its economic power will be felt most acutely in China’s immediate neighbourhood. Japan, South Korea and Australia now find that their economic and strategic interests are pointing in different directions. All three countries have their most important economic relationship with China, and their most important military relationship with the US. But, over time, the growing economic power of China will weigh more and more heavily.
