Many years ago I had a conversation with a professor at the London School of Economics, that remains fresh in my mind to this day.
“In addition to learning French, my son is also learning Mandarin,” said the gentleman. “After all, with the way the world is going, we will all be speaking Mandarin soon. He might as well get a head start now.”
Ever since that conversation — and following René Descartes’ true scientific method, whereby one tests a hypothesis to see if it bears its own weight — I have put the consensus around China’s inevitable rise to global hegemony to the test.
Can China truly replace the United States as the world’s No. 1 superpower? Before proceeding, let us harken unto Dr. Chuck Missler’s advice: “The only barrier to truth is the presumption that you already have it.”
Ever since Thomas Malthus’ wrote “An Essay on the Principle of Population,” the liberal elites have deceived hordes of individuals into believing the earth is on an unavoidable collision course with doom due to overpopulation. This idea was further cemented in our collective conscience when Paul Ehrlich famously wrote “The Population Bomb.”
Despite these harmful predictions never materializing, many people have built their worldview around them. In fact, this idea has been deeply rooted in the psyche of Western civilization, becoming the foundation to other equally foolish politically correct doctrines, such as the Green New Deal, the unfounded push for arbitrary green energy goals and the concerted pressure to force citizens who believe in free will to genuflect at the altar of the unrelenting religion of climate change.
No other country fell prey to this false notion more than China. A fervent disciple of the overpopulation theory, Mao Zedong incessantly preached on the importance of what is euphemistically called ‘family planning’ to all within China. His actions led to the now infamous One-Child Policy, which wreaked havoc on a once very fecund and thriving population.
The unintended consequences of this foolhardy policy led to the wide spread abortion or abandonment of female children, the creation of a lopsided society where there are almost 35 million more men than women (compared to North Carolina’s ratio of 51.4% females to 48.6% males), steep decline in birth rates creating a havoc on an aging Chinese population, the inability for eligible Chinese young men to find girlfriends or wives, overcrowded Chinese prisons due to the growing violence the government has to quell on a daily basis, the need for China to send prisoners to Africa to gather mineral wealth, and the creation of the world’s largest navy in order to channel the destructive tendencies of its unemployed and single young men.
Today China, like many other countries, has come to learn a lesson that our forebears’ thought was common sense: depopulation of humankind is the true population ticking bomb. There is a reason why ancient civilizations treasured the number of children being born; they wisely perceived it to be the indication of the clan or nation’s strength. In fact, a couple of years, China — taking a page from numerous European countries’ strong family policies in a bid to undo the deleterious effect of overpopulation policies — finally came to it senses and announced it would allow parents to have up to three children. It is the case of too little too late.
Another point that should lead one to question the consensus around China’s inevitable rise to global hegemony is its economic strength. Despite the liberal elite media’s constant waxing lyrical about Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Belt and Road Initiative, one cannot escape the undeniable fact China’s economy is currently struggling and has been for a while now.
During his presidency, President Trump rightfully called out China for years of illegally subsidizing its companies, disrespecting intellectual property rights, and even forcing American companies to divulge their tech secrets. Unsurprisingly, China has been eyeing North Carolina — ranked America’s top state for business for the second consecutive year — for a while. Indeed, in addition to targeting business in the Tar Heel state, China has over the years covertly infiltrated our K-12 programs by creating Confucius classrooms in key school districts all across the state.
Unphased with being the proverbial bull in a China shop — no pun intended — President Trump put the traditional fre-trade narrative to the test by imposing tariffs on China. This decision, now proven to be right, was predictably met with apoplectic rage by the media and liberal elite.
Today we can be grateful President Trump had the foresight to take measures to protect US businesses from China’s harmful actions. This, combined with other external forces, has kneecapped China’s “strong economy.” In light of this, one should look at Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to San Francisco a fortnight ago as one done from a position of weakness; he is need of the United States’ economic ingenuity to help him boost his failing economy.
Throughout history, three things have contributed the most to the reformation of modern society more than anything else: violence, knowledge and wealth. Looking at this issue through that lens, China has been experiencing mass internal violence for many years, which remains uncontrollable to this day. Apart from few sporadic moments, China has seldom been a hub of entrepreneurial knowledge that changed modern society. Unlike the ignition of the industrial revolution in the United Kingdom or the explosion of the internet age in the United States, there has not been a significant explosion of knowledge, from China that made an impact on life as we know it. Lastly, China’s state-controlled economy, which cannot harness the creativity and energy of a non-existent vibrant young population, has been propped up for decades, and the house of cards is finally crumbling.
These three factors, among many, can only lead one to the following conclusion: Despite the current self-identity crisis the United States is undergoing, China will not displace the United States as the world’s hegemon.
The convulsive nature of the ghastly events that have plagued our beloved nation over the last three years has rekindled the dying embers of the American patriotic spirit and, in the words of Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, China should “fear all [it has] done [..] to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”