Is China's rise an opportunity or a threat to world Essay

Is China's rise an opportunity or a threat to world - Essay Example Munakata (2003) has discussed the impact of China’s rise from a Japanese perspective. He points out that China is viewed as an economic threat because of the high level of imports from China, the rise in foreign direct investment and the inexhaustible supply of low cost hard working laborers, as well as educated engineers and researchers. However, it also provides an opportunity for Japan, because it is the fast growing export market, the profitability of Japanese investments in China has improved considerably, and increased mergers between Chinese and Japanese companies have resulted in a financial windfall for Japan, thus this author concludes that China’s rise is more of an opportunity rather than a threat. According to Lampton (2007), the United States is not making an accurate assessment of China’s rise, since it is focusing on China’s military might. It views China as an emerging military power because the country is too big to compel cooperation, however this could result in unnecessary squandering of resources. Lampton (2007) suggests that instead of viewing China’s rise mainly in terms of its growing strength, there is a need to pay attention to its growth in the economic and intellectual domains. He suggests that the U.S. should focus on ways to improve cooperation and ally with China instead of entering into conflict. Restall(2007) is of the view that China’s military build up is not of a magnitude as to be a source of concern to the United States. The important aspect of this growing military strength is that China is taking on the role of providing military protection to smaller Asian States, which was once the U.S. role. As a result, China poses a threat to the United States hegemony in Asia. It is also entering into pragmatic partnerships with Asian countries and capitalizing on the desire among Asians for self reliance and freedom from outside interference. Therefore China appears poised to play a