Country Case Reports (politics of globalization)

Country Report : China 's Rise as a Major Global Player

When Europe was still in the Dark Ages , China was already a sophisticated Middle Kingdom in the center of Asia . But when the Industrial Age came China was overtaken by European superpowers like France , Britain , and Germany . Yet still , there was no doubt that China was simply taking a long hiatus but anytime soon the slumbering dragon will awake and shake the world

At the turn of the 21st century China announced its reemergence and nobody doubted that indeed the sleeping giant

is fully awake . This coming August 2008 China will formally declare to the whole world that they are a force to contend with when they host the Summer Olympics in historic Beijing

Globalization

The concept of globalization in its roughest form deal with international relations . This means thinking beyond one 's nationality and citizenship and begin looking at other countries interacting with one another in an economic and political sense

It was Roland Robertson , the noted social scientist who was one of the first who understood the bigger picture and he was quoted as saying Globalization as a concept refers both to the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole both concrete global interdependence and consciousness of the global whole (p .4 . In a much simpler sense it means that the world is shrinking at the same time there is an increase in interconnectedness via breakthroughs in telecoms or the removal of trade barrier as in free-trade agreements

In this new world of ultra-fast transporters e .g . advanced cargo ships and efficient air cargo delivery methods China has become the go to place for cost-efficient manufacturing . Multinational Companies tapped into China 's huge labor market and as a result , since 2003 , China became the world 's largest recipient of foreign direct investment or FDI (Yadong Luo , 2007 ,

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As China absorbs FDI 's at an enviable rate the country is also positioning itself is an economic center in Asia . The following will show not only how China attempts to integrate itself into the World Trade Organization but is also building friendships and trade partnerships with players in the region

Involvement

As China continues its rise to the top surely its leaders were well aware of the need to integrate itself with global organizations . Now China has not only done its homework in terms of World Trade Agreements it has also strengthened its presence in Asia . But first of all its inclusion in the World Trade Organization made it very clear that China has integrated into the world community (Zheng , 2004 ,

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Integration

China 's integration into the global community can be seen in three major activities . The first one is its turnaround when it comes to capitalism . It used to be that the Chinese government only believes in communist doctrines but in the last few decades the world has come to see it embrace the awesome power of...