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["Marie McHarry" <mmcharry AT dtnspeed.net>]

Rob posted an interesting document about China.  Possibly the most
interesting part was the Chinese consideration of terrorism to counter an
overwhelming foreign power.

Now that we're extremely overextended in Iraq, perhaps the Chinese will
reconsider.

Here's another China-related article that you all might find interesting. I
got rid of most of the scrap metal on my homestead last year because China
was buying. Now this....

The View From Down Under
The talk is Social Security, but the topic should be China. 
By Robert B. Reich
Web Exclusive: 12.17.04 

One issue that's wasn't on the agenda at this week's White House economic
gabfest was China. But it should have been. Having just returned from Down
Under, I can attest to China's growing power. 

The giant sucking sound you hear in Southeast Asia these days is raw
materials being pulled into China from all quarters -- iron ore and coking
coal from Australia, nickel and copper from South America, food from
everywhere. The giant grinding sound you hear is Chinese factories, now
consuming more than a quarter of the world's steel, producing more steel
than the United States and Japan combined, manufacturing more of everything
than any other nation. Indeed, China has doubled its share of world
manufacturing exports in the last decade. And the giant gushing sound you
hear is Chinese financial capital, buying up whatever it needs all over
Southeast Asia, and even propping up the dollar. 

As China's influence grows, America's wanes. Australian business executives
tell me they're more interested in their new trade pact with China than in
their new trade accord with the United States. The exploding Chinese demand
for raw materials is fueling Australia's boom. And China's economic power
translates directly into political power. Australia's conservative
government -- which had been willing to send some 200 troops into Iraq as
part of the broad "coalition of the willing" -- now defies Washington by
assuring the UN Secretary General of its full support, in the face of White
House criticisms. 

And, of course, China's new influence extends far beyond the Pacific. The
European Union is now eagerly responding to China's request to lift the arms
embargo imposed after the 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square -- China's
newest crackdown on political and civil rights notwithstanding. 

With China holding more than a half a trillion dollars of United States
debt, it also largely determines what happens to the dollar. America's
dependence on Chinese financial capital means that China has a big influence
over American domestic policy -- for example, over whether George W. Bush
can borrow trillions more to finance his plans to privatize Social Security
and make his tax cuts permanent, without sending long-term interest rates
into the stratosphere. And also how far Alan Greenspan has to go in raising
short-term interest rates to ward off inflation. 

In short, China is now a significant player in the American economy and in
American politics, even though few American politicians actually dare admit
it. 

Robert B. Reich is co-founder of The American Prospect. 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-08/08/154l-080899-idx.html