The Rise and rise of the People's Republic of China, would it soon be on par or even surpass the only super power in the world the USA?

"On January 19, Presidents Barack Obama and Hu Jintao will hold their eighth bilateral meeting, but only their second state visit (the others were all brief sessions on the margins of multilateral forums like APEC or the G-20). At the last full-fledged bilateral summit in Beijing in November 2009, President Obama hoped to open a more productive chapter in U.S.-China relations through a joint statement with President Hu noting areas of U.S.-China cooperation and highlighting each party’s “core interests.” In the months after the November summit, however, the administration found itself responding to a noticeably more assertive and less cooperative China." Read in full here: The Hu-Obama Summit


The People's Pepublic of China is on the rise and rise, it is sitting on so much money(about USD 2 trillion) that it has surpassed even the world Bank in giving out loans to the global community: 

China ahead of World Bank in loans to developing nations – FT


China lent at least $110bn (£68bn) to governments and firms in other developing countries in 2009 and 2010, surpassing the $100.3bn from the World Bank
Reuters/guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 18 January 2011 09.19 GMT


Beijing: China has lent more money to developing nations than the World Bank in the past two years, the Financial Times said on Tuesday, underlining Beijing's ambitions to increase its global influence.


China lent at least $110bn (£68bn) to governments and firms in other developing countries in 2009 and 2010, surpassing the $100.3bn lent by the World Bank, the newspaper said.


Read the full article here.


To have an idea of the magnitude of how influential China has become, just have a look at the table below to see how much China owned of America's debt:

Data summary

MAJOR FOREIGN HOLDERS OF TREASURY SECURITIES

$bn at end of period. Click heading to sort table. Download this data

Country	Oct 2010.	Oct 2009.	Oct 2008.	% change, Oct 2008-Oct 2010
SOURCE: US Treasury • Download this data
China, Mainland	906.8	938.3	684.1	32.6
Japan	877.4	742.9	629.6	39.4
United Kingdom	477.6	105.7	133.2	258.6
Oil Exporters	213.9	209	176.7	21.1
All Other	161	158	149.1	8.0
Brazil	177.6	164.9	141	26.0
Carib Bnkng Ctrs	133.7	114	203.5	-34.3
Hong Kong	139.2	137.8	69.8	99.4
Taiwan	131.2	115.6	65.9	99.1
Russia	131.6	145.9	110.8	18.8
Switzerland	101.3	85.2	62	63.4
Canada	125.2	44.8	14	794.3
Luxembourg	78.5	79.5	100.8	-22.1
Thailand	66.2	28	34	94.7
Germany	60.1	47.9	53.7	11.9
Singapore	63.6	36.3	34	87.1
Ireland	41.4	42.6	35.1	17.9
Korea, South	41.1	43.3	36.2	13.5
India	41.1	35.8	18.3	124.6
Mexico	34.9	26.5	32.2	8.4
France	35.1	29.1	20.5	71.2
Belgium	15.7	16.9	15.8	-0.6
Egypt	34.9	14.3	16.7	109.0
Turkey	27.6	30.3	27.9	-1.1
Poland	26.3	21.9
Italy	21	21.6	15.3	37.3
Norway	18.7	7.3	11.5	62.6
Netherlands	14.6	20.5	15.7	-7.0
Colombia	17.3	18.3	11.3	53.1
Israel	17.9	14.5	12.4	44.4
Sweden	15	15.3	13.5	11.1
Philippines	12.9	11.4	12.1	6.6
Chile	13.6	12.4	15	-9.3
Australia	11.8	12.8
Malaysia	11.6	11.7	8.6	34.9
Spain		13.1
Grand Total	4310.2	3573.1	2980.3	44.62

Source here.


Treasury bonds are how the US - and other governments for that matter - borrow money, they issue government securities, which other countries and institutions buy. 

So, the US national debt is owned mostly by Asian economies among them Malaysia folks. Is that a good thing, I don't know, just hope the US don't go bust all of a sudden, no it won't the Americans will find ways to insure that they will be No.1 for a very long time to come.

Read also this very interesting article arguing that China is too big to be bullied by the US. I am not sure I agree though as the Americans has been playing the new great games for decades, and they are not encircling the People's Republic of China from Afganistan, to the Central Asian Republics, South Korea thru to Japan for nothing, they will surely have ways to ensure America's hegemony last well into the next century. 

The PRC for all its economic clout needs OIL and other raw material from outside to feed and sustain  its booming economy, this will probably be its Achilles heel as the US has its fingers firmly in the Persian Gulf and have its naval fleet stationed in all the major oceans around the world.