By Bill Turner
Hydrologist
On the front page of the newspapers of the world, we are the vilified planetary policeman, the global hegemon. But that belief is only as thick as the front page itself.
While we flex our muscles here and there another global power, China, slowly and quietly takes advantage both of the miasma we find ourselves in and of our profligate consumer spending.
Traveling in Asia, I am overwhelmed by the dynamism of the economies, and China is the big gorilla among them.
Americans gobble up everything from toys to cell phones and computers and everything else that Wal-Mart sells, exporting dollars to China. Meanwhile, Chinese President Hu Jintao is quietly traveling the world signing trade pacts right and left.
China is buying up natural resources for its rampant economic growth.
About 15 years ago, I hosted a 10-man team from the Chinese Ministry for Non-Ferrous Metals. They were on a quest to purchase copper properties and they were looking at a copper leaching project owned by Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) near Silver City. Then they did not buy it. Today they might.
More recently, the Chinese sought to buy oil and gas interests in the United States. China's consumption of raw materials will outstrip that of the United States. Their population already does by a factor of five.
China's acquisition of those raw materials to the detriment of the nations that possess them will be financed by the United States and the other G-8 countries and China's own low labor costs.
In a world where "globalization" and "free trade" are modern buzzwords, China is becoming the new global imperialist power, while America will become a Third World Country dependent upon them for products while acting as their global policeman.
It is time for Washington to realize that together with China we are playing Mutt and Jeff. In the eyes of the public, Washington is the "Bad Cop" and China is the "Good Cop" and to the Good Cop will go the spoils of this new global economic tug of war.
The Bush administration has so damaged America's image around the world and has so driven nations around the world into the Chinese camp that we cannot recover for generations if at all. And, we do not have generations to spend in a world where events can overtake us faster than Hitler's blitzkreig. The conclusion is that while, in time, Iraq and the Middle East may move to democracy, we do not have the time to wait.
Though we can produce awe and thunder on the battlefield we are now loosing the economic war. China is no longer the sleeping giant of Asia. It is on the march. The Won is up and the Dollar is down. Is anyone out there?
Bill Turner, a consulting hydrologist, water-rights broker and expert in water development strategies and policies, has traveled the world for more than 40 years. He is a member of the board of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District.
opinion 
E-mail Story
Print Friendly
