[REBORN FROM THE ASHES][comment][12.20]

霁月难逢UID: 2718354

关于REBORN FROM THE ASHES组COMMENTS活动的说明&汇总
https://bbs.gter.net/thread-1042733-1-2.html


----------------------------

A special report on China and America

A wary respect

Oct 22nd 2009 From The Economist print edition


America and China need each other, but they are a long way from trusting each other, says James Miles.

“OUR future history will be more determined by our position on the Pacific facing China than by our position on the Atlantic facing Europe,” said the American president as he contemplated the extraordinary commercial opportunities that were opening up in Asia. More than a hundred years after Theodore Roosevelt made this prediction, American leaders are again looking across the Pacific to determine their own country’s future, and that of the rest of the world. Rather later than Roosevelt expected, China has become an inescapable part of it.

Back in 1905, America was the rising power. Britain, then ruler of the waves, was worrying about losing its supremacy to the upstart. Now it is America that looks uneasily on the rise of a potential challenger. A shared cultural and political heritage helped America to eclipse British power without bloodshed, but the rise of Germany and Japan precipitated global wars. President Barack Obama faces a China that is growing richer and stronger while remaining tenaciously authoritarian. Its rise will be far more nettlesome than that of his own country a century ago.

With America’s economy in tatters and China’s still growing fast (albeit not as fast as before last year’s financial crisis), many politicians and intellectuals in both China and America feel that the balance of power is shifting more rapidly in China’s favour. Few expect the turning point to be as imminent as it was for America in 1905. But recent talk of a “G2” hints at a remarkable shift in the two countries’ relative strengths: they are now seen as near-equals whose co-operation is vital to solving the world’s problems, from finance to climate change and nuclear proliferation.
Choose your weapons

Next month Mr Obama will make his first ever visit to China. He and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao (pictured above) stress the need for co-operation and avoid playing up their simmering trade disputes, fearful of what failure to co-operate could mean. On October 1st China offered a stunning display of the hard edge of its rising power as it paraded its fast-growing military arsenal through Beijing.

The financial crisis has sharpened fears of what Americans often see as another potential threat. China has become the world’s biggest lender to America through its purchase of American Treasury securities, which in theory would allow it to wreck the American economy. These fears ignore the value-destroying (and, for China’s leaders, politically hugely embarrassing) effect that a sell-off of American debt would have on China’s dollar reserves. This special report will explain why China will continue to lend to America, and why the yuan is unlikely to become a reserve currency soon.

When Lawrence Summers was president of Harvard University (he is now Mr Obama’s chief economic adviser), he once referred to a “balance of financial terror” between America and its foreign creditors, principally China and Japan. That was in 2004, when Japan’s holdings were more than four times the size of China’s. By September 2008 China had taken the lead. China Daily, an official English-language newspaper, said in July that China’s massive holdings of US Treasuries meant it could break the dollar’s reserve-currency status any time. But it also noted that in effect this was a “foreign-exchange version of the cold-war stalemate based on ‘mutually assured destruction’”.

China is exploring the rubble of the global economy in hopes of accelerating its own rise. Some Chinese commentators point to the example of the Soviet Union, which exploited Western economic disarray during the Depression to acquire industrial technology from desperate Western sellers. China has long chafed at controls imposed by America on high-technology exports that could be used for military purposes. It sees America’s plight as a cue to push for the lifting of such barriers and for Chinese companies to look actively for buying opportunities among America’s high-technology industries.

The economic crisis briefly slowed the rapid growth, from a small base, of China’s outbound direct investment. Stephen Green of Standard Chartered predicts that this year it could reach about the same level as in 2008 (nearly $56 billion, which was more than twice as much as the year before). Some Americans worry about China’s FDI, just as they once mistakenly did about Japan’s buying sprees, but many will welcome the stability and employment that it provides.

China may have growing financial muscle, but it still lags far behind as a technological innovator and creator of global brands. This special report will argue that the United States may have to get used to a bigger Chinese presence on its own soil, including some of its most hallowed turf, such as the car industry. A Chinese man may even get to the moon before another American. But talk of a G2 is highly misleading. By any measure, China’s power is still dwarfed by America’s.

Authoritarian though China remains, the two countries’ economic philosophies are much closer than they used to be. As Yan Xuetong of Tsinghua University puts it, socialism with Chinese characteristics (as the Chinese call their brand of communism) is looking increasingly like capitalism with American characteristics. In Mr Yan’s view, China’s and America’s common interest in dealing with the financial crisis will draw them closer together strategically too. Global economic integration, he argues with a hint of resentment, has made China “more willing than before to accept America’s dominance”.

The China that many American business and political leaders see is one that appears to support the status quo and is keen to engage peacefully with the outside world. But there is another side to the country. Nationalism is a powerful, growing and potentially disruptive force. Many Chinese—even among those who were educated in America—are suspicious of American intentions and resentful of American power. They are easily persuaded that the West, led by the United States, wants to block China’s rise.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the restoration of diplomatic ties between America and China, which proved a dramatic turning point in the cold war. Between the communist victory in 1949 and President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China in 1972 there had been as little contact between the two countries as there is between America and North Korea today. But the eventual disappearance of the two countries’ common enemy, the Soviet Union, raised new questions in both countries about why these two ideological rivals should be friends. Mutual economic benefit emerged as a winning answer. More recently, both sides have been trying to reinforce the relationship by stressing that they have a host of new common enemies, from global epidemics to terrorism.

But it is a relationship fraught with contradictions. A senior American official says that some of his country’s dealings with China are like those with the European Union; others resemble those with the old Soviet Union, “depending on what part of the bureaucracy you are dealing with”.

Cold-war parallels are most obvious in the military arena. China’s military build-up in the past decade has been as spectacular as its economic growth, catalysed by the ever problematic issue of Taiwan, the biggest thorn in the Sino-American relationship. There are growing worries in Washington, DC, that China’s military power could challenge America’s wider military dominance in the region. China insists there is nothing to worry about. But even if its leadership has no plans to displace American power in Asia, this special report will say that America is right to fret that this could change.

Politically, China is heading for a particularly unsettled period as preparations gather pace for sweeping leadership changes in 2012 and 2013. Mr Hu and the prime minister, Wen Jiabao, will be among many senior politicians due to retire. As America moves towards its own presidential elections in 2012, its domestic politics will complicate matters. Taiwan too will hold presidential polls in 2012 in which China-sceptic politicians will fight to regain power.
Triple hazard

This political uncertainty in all three countries simultaneously will be a big challenge for the relationship between China and America. All three will still be grappling with the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Urban Chinese may be feeling relaxed right now, but there could be trouble ahead. Yu Yongding, a former adviser to China’s central bank, says wasteful spending on things like unnecessary infrastructure projects (which is not uncommon in China) could eventually drain the country’s fiscal strength and leave it with “no more drivers for growth”. In recent weeks even Chinese leaders have begun to sound the occasional note of caution about the stability of China’s recovery.

This special report will argue that the next few years could be troubled ones for the bilateral relationship. China, far more than an economically challenged America, is roiled by social tensions. Protests are on the rise, corruption is rampant, crime is surging. The leadership is fearful of its own citizens. Mr Obama is dealing with a China that is at risk of overestimating its strength relative to America’s. Its frailties—social, political and economic—could eventually imperil both its own stability and its dealings with the outside world.

http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14678579

hugeseaUID: 190158

占个楼，呵呵，一会再发comment

aladdin.ivyUID: 2596664

As the topic statement in today’s report—the relationship between China and America-- is a hot issue, which I am interested in, and the length of the article is relatively shorter than the last two’s, I finished it rapidly.

First, I would like to talk about my feelings after three days’ reading of The Economist. I found that although there are a large amount of viewpoints would be elaborate, most of which have been well reasoned and supported by quoting some distinguished words or facts within the author’s reasoning. Moreover, the most distinct difference between those reports and our writing works is that there are few empty talks and polite formulas appeared in official articles which were, contrarily, frequently used by us in our writings. Each time you go over a special report, it is a kind of enjoy for their coherent expresses, insightful and in-depth analysis of complex ideas as well as the skillfully use of sentences variety and precise choice of vocabularies. All these merits deserve us to learn and apply in our future writings.

Now, let me move back to this report. With America’s economy in tatters and China’s still growing fast, both countries need each other, as is said by James Miles, and it seems that the biggest barrier facing by two countries is that they dare not to thrust each other. However, in my point of view, there does not exist such a thrust problem not only between these two countries, also other countries throughout the world. As is known to all, the aim of any co-operation for both sides is to gain some benefit from it, hence a win-win situation. Thus, the original problem beneath the thrust is that both countries cannot assure they could gain those benefits which they expected in the beginning via the co-operation. Since China have different cultures, systems as well as ideologies with America, America reckon with that they could not given the real data of China in military area, meanwhile, China could not guarantee American could Straighten out the attitude of other countries. Through a co-operation, to some extent, both country would receive some benefits, at the same time, they are facing with the hazard of disadvantages. As a result of both country is not sure weather the advantages could overweigh the disadvantages, the co-operation between the two countries is still a long time of mutual understanding and communication.

都说了不是又八UID: 2728357

MARK之。


It`s been 6 hours since i recited the article as a whole.
Tough as it may seems, the reciting really helped a lot. Both effective and specific, the attempt really worth trying. Meanwhile, the structure of the whole article is totally absorbed. Good job.

Have gone through the comments of others. Some prefer picking out words and phrases which seems attractive, however i highly doubt the picking work could turn to anything that could be used. If they`re establishing a beautiful glossory in order to make their language abundant with finesse, why not have everything absorbed once they touch the language?


Well, standing on the dais, facing a room with merely chairs and desks, and have the words out of the lips, this is not reciting but enjoying the flow of the words. Hope u all like this.

rodgoodUID: 2619326

My comments:

It is not scorn but alarm, not a report but a critique, resource of not pity but momentum. I nearly want to memorize it for so many useful phrases and sentences. I think I’ll do it next morning.

Although there are some terms and expressions related to economical theory, I’m interested in such a topic analyzing the relationship between China and the US. China is always thought as one of the most challenging opponents in the world for its fast growing not only in economy but also in military. Our Chinese people are also getting used of this viewpoint and have the common knowledge that China is really growing stronger without any defects. However, behind the prosperity of the surface, more and more persistent problems have risen. Just like the report says, “Protests are on the rise, corruption is rampant, crime is surging”. What we should do mostly is thinking about the connotation of the “harmony”, proposed by President Hu, and doing our best to realize it.

On the other hand, now that in the US there is such a voice that China is not the threat of it actually, which may not the main idea, it would be a good chance for us to develop ourselves with little block from them. Therefore, paying attention to such a good report and reconsidering the problems in the course of advance are of great significance.

Useful words, phrases and sentences:

Supremacy至高无上、霸权、主权，precipitate加速、促进、沉淀物，tenaciously坚持地、顽强地，albeit虽然、尽管，tatter破布、一团糟，hint暗示，imminent即将到来的，playing up渲染、抬高、加油，in effect实际上， outbound向外的，spree狂欢，authoritarian霸权主义、独裁主义，  fraught with充满， be catalyzed by 被……促进、催化，grappling with扭打、混战，infrastructure基础设施，roil动荡、搅浑，frailty弱点，imperil使陷入危险，proliferation扩散、增殖，bloodshed流血、杀戮，lag拖延、滞后、蹒跚

opportunities that were opening up，simmering trade disputes
socialism with Chinese characteristics (as the Chinese call their brand of communism)
argues with a hint of resentment

A shared cultural and political heritage helped America to eclipse British power without bloodshed

They are now seen as near-equals whose co-operation is vital to solving the world’s problems, from finance to climate change and nuclear proliferation.

The financial crisis has sharpened fears of what Americans often see as another potential threat.

China is exploring the rubble of the global economy in hopes of accelerating its own rise.

China has long chafed at controls imposed by America on high-technology exports that could be used for military purposes.

China may have growing financial muscle, but it still lags far behind as a technological innovator and creator of global brands.

China’s and America’s common interest in dealing with the financial crisis will draw them closer together strategically too.

Nationalism is a powerful, growing and potentially disruptive force.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the restoration of diplomatic ties between America and China, which proved a dramatic turning point in the cold war.

Mutual economic benefit emerged as a winning answer.

Politically, China is heading for a particularly unsettled period as preparations gather pace for sweeping leadership changes in 2012 and 2013.

China, far more than an economically challenged America, is roiled by social tensions. Protests are on the rise, corruption is rampant, crime is surging.

海王泪UID: 2673613

蜂起而抢楼？
P.S.环境、艺术、政治。。。有奖竞猜明天文章的领域。。嘿嘿～

My Sum-Up
America and China need each other, but they are a long way from trusting each other.
1.American leaders again emphasize and contemplate the relation of their countries with China.
2.America looks uneasily on the rise of a potential challenger—China.
3.The power and status is shifting more rapidly in China’s favor with the different situation between economy in America and China.

Choose your weapons

4.For trade co-operation, Obama will visit China on December. Military force of China also threatens American.
5.Another potential threat is the status of China for becoming the biggest lender to America. However, it is not fair to say that so the special report will explain why.
6.The financial relation in finance is a “foreign-exchange version of the cold-war stalemate based on ‘mutually assured destruction’”.
7.The economic crisis may serve as an opportunity for China to freer high-tech. In the past, although the nation always swallowed rubble of global economy, it still suffered from the barrier of America.
8.The economic crisis slowed the growth of China’s outbound direct investments.
9.China may grow stronger and stronger but its power still lags far behind America.
10.China and American will work closer but the former will be more liable to be under the dominance of the latter.
11.However, nationalism is a powerful, growing and potentially disruptive force.
12.Mutual economic benefit emerges as a winning answer for which China and America become friends instead of ideological rivals.
13.But American finds they have different relationship with China when they deal with different part of the bureaucracy.
14.There are growing worries in America that China’s military power becomes a threat.
15.Political uncertainty, the change of leaders, in China, America and Taiwan simultaneously will be a big challenge for the relationship between China and America.

Triple hazard

16.For inappropriate fiscal investment, some doubts the stability of China’s recovery after global financial crisis.
17.Social tensions, political uncertainty and economic challenge could eventually imperil Chinese stability and relationship with other countries, especially America.

My Comment

Once, I heard from my friend about this magazine: “The Economists always lampoon China. It always publicizes reactionism.”However, as far as I concern, Economists' attitude about China may be paradox rather than only criticizing. Sometimes the magazine may be even more objective than most of the media in America and China.

For instance, the report has called for justice for China in paragraph 5. The magazine asserts that it is unreasonable for American to blame China as the biggest purchaser in their American Treasury securities which may wreck their economy when China would suffer from value-destroying with the slump of US. But in the last two paragraphs, it has criticized Chinese frailties—inappropriate economic policies, social tensions, political uncertainty and point out these factors could endanger its own stability and relationship with other countries, especially with America. Different attitute to China in different questions shows Economists is not as evil as what my friend said.

Some Sentences is vivid and meaningful. I like the statement about “foreign-exchange version of the cold-war stalemate based on ‘mutually assured destruction’”. China and America are interdependent. Although Chinese government has the ability to draw down the greenback from the throne of currency, it may also suffer from great loss such as depreciated foreign assets, less export and thus more unemployment, and more importantly, domestically serious inflation of RMB.

豆腐店的86UID: 2512956

猜文化--猜错了
===========================
A special report on China and America
A wary respect
Oct 22nd 2009 From The Economist print edition
生词
读多遍才懂的句子
好句子，好表达法
========================================================================

America and China need each other, but they are a long way from trusting each other, says James Miles.

“OUR future history will be more determined by our position on the Pacific facing China than by our position on the Atlantic facing Europe,” said the American president as he contemplated the extraordinary commercial opportunities that were opening up in Asia. More than a hundred years after Theodore Roosevelt made this prediction, American leaders are again looking across the Pacific to determine their own country’s future, and that of the rest of the world. Rather later than Roosevelt expected, China has become an inescapable part of it.

Back in 1905, America was the rising power. Britain, then ruler of the waves, was worrying about losing its supremacy to the upstart. Now it is America that looks uneasily on the rise of a potential challenger. A shared cultural and political heritage helped America to eclipse British power without bloodshed, but the rise of Germany and Japan precipitated global wars. President Barack Obama faces a China that is growing richer and stronger while remaining tenaciously authoritarian. Its rise will be far more nettlesome than that of his own country a century ago.

With America’s economy in tatters and China’s still growing fast (albeit not as fast as before last year’s financial crisis), many politicians and intellectuals in both China and America feel that the balance of power is shifting more rapidly in China’s favour. Few expect the turning point to be as imminent as it was for America in 1905. But recent talk of a “G2” hints at a remarkable shift in the two countries’ relative strengths: they are now seen as near-equals whose co-operation is vital to solving the world’s problems, from finance to climate change and nuclear proliferation.

Choose your weapons

Next month Mr Obama will make his first ever visit to China. He and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao (pictured above) stress the need for co-operation and avoid playing up their simmering trade disputes, fearful of what failure to co-operate could mean. On October 1st China offered a stunning display of the hard edge of its rising power as it paraded its fast-growing military arsenal through Beijing.

The financial crisis has sharpened fears of what Americans often see as another potential threat. China has become the world’s biggest lender to America through its purchase of American Treasury securities, which in theory would allow it to wreck the American economy. These fears ignore the value-destroying (and, for China’s leaders, politically hugely embarrassing) effect that a sell-off of American debt would have on China’s dollar reserves. This special report will explain why China will continue to lend to America, and why the yuan is unlikely to become a reserve currency soon.

When Lawrence Summers was president of Harvard University (he is now Mr Obama’s chief economic adviser), he once referred to a “balance of financial terror” between America and its foreign creditors, principally China and Japan. That was in 2004, when Japan’s holdings were more than four times the size of China’s. By September 2008 China had taken the lead. China Daily, an official English-language newspaper, said in July that China’s massive holdings of US Treasuries meant it could break the dollar’s reserve-currency status any time. But it also noted that in effect this was a “foreign-exchange version of the cold-war stalemate based on ‘mutually assured destruction’”.

China is exploring the rubble of the global economy in hopes of accelerating its own rise. Some Chinese commentators point to the example of the Soviet Union, which exploited Western economic disarray during the Depression to acquire industrial technology from desperate Western sellers. China has long chafed at controls imposed by America on high-technology exports that could be used for military purposes. It sees America’s plight as a cue to push for the lifting of such barriers and for Chinese companies to look actively for buying opportunities among America’s high-technology industries.

The economic crisis briefly slowed the rapid growth, from a small base, of China’s outbound direct investment. Stephen Green of Standard Chartered predicts that this year it could reach about the same level as in 2008 (nearly $56 billion, which was more than twice as much as the year before). Some Americans worry about China’s FDI, just as they once mistakenly did about Japan’s buying sprees, but many will welcome the stability and employment that it provides.

China may have growing financial muscle, but it still lags far behind as a technological innovator and creator of global brands. This special report will argue that the United States may have to get used to a bigger Chinese presence on its own soil, including some of its most hallowed turf, such as the car industry. A Chinese man may even get to the moon before another American. But talk of a G2 is highly misleading. By any measure, China’s power is still dwarfed by America’s.

Authoritarian though China remains, the two countries’ economic philosophies are much closer than they used to be. As Yan Xuetong of Tsinghua University puts it, socialism with Chinese characteristics (as the Chinese call their brand of communism) is looking increasingly like capitalism with American characteristics. In Mr Yan’s view, China’s and America’s common interest in dealing with the financial crisis will draw them closer together strategically too. Global economic integration, he argues with a hint of resentment, has made China “more willing than before to accept America’s dominance”.

The China that many American business and political leaders see is one that appears to support the status quo and is keen to engage peacefully with the outside world. But there is another side to the country. Nationalism is a powerful, growing and potentially disruptive force. Many Chinese—even among those who were educated in America—are suspicious of American intentions and resentful of American power. They are easily persuaded that the West, led by the United States, wants to block China’s rise.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the restoration of diplomatic ties between America and China, which proved a dramatic turning point in the cold war. Between the communist victory in 1949 and President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China in 1972 there had been as little contact between the two countries as there is between America and North Korea today. But the eventual disappearance of the two countries’ common enemy, the Soviet Union, raised new questions in both countries about why these two ideological rivals should be friends. Mutual economic benefit emerged as a winning answer. More recently, both sides have been trying to reinforce the relationship by stressing that they have a host of new common enemies, from global epidemics to terrorism.

But it is a relationship fraught with contradictions. A senior American official says that some of his country’s dealings with China are like those with the European Union; others resemble those with the old Soviet Union, “depending on what part of the bureaucracy you are dealing with”.

Cold-war parallels are most obvious in the military arena. China’s military build-up in the past decade has been as spectacular as its economic growth, catalysed by the ever problematic issue of Taiwan, the biggest thorn in the Sino-American relationship. There are growing worries in Washington, DC, that China’s military power could challenge America’s wider military dominance in the region. China insists there is nothing to worry about. But even if its leadership has no plans to displace American power in Asia, this special report will say that America is right to fret that this could change.

Politically, China is heading for a particularly unsettled period as preparations gather pace for sweeping leadership changes in 2012 and 2013. Mr Hu and the prime minister, Wen Jiabao, will be among many senior politicians due to retire. As America moves towards its own presidential elections in 2012, its domestic politics will complicate matters. Taiwan too will hold presidential polls in 2012 in which China-sceptic politicians will fight to regain power.

Triple hazard

This political uncertainty in all three countries simultaneously will be a big challenge for the relationship between China and America. All three will still be grappling with the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Urban Chinese may be feeling relaxed right now, but there could be trouble ahead. Yu Yongding, a former adviser to China’s central bank, says wasteful spending on things like unnecessary infrastructure projects (which is not uncommon in China) could eventually drain the country’s fiscal strength and leave it with “no more drivers for growth”. In recent weeks even Chinese leaders have begun to sound the occasional note of caution about the stability of China’s recovery.

This special report will argue that the next few years could be troubled ones for the bilateral relationship. China, far more than an economically challenged America, is roiled by social tensions. Protests are on the rise, corruption is rampant, crime is surging. The leadership is fearful of its own citizens. Mr Obama is dealing with a China that is at risk of overestimating its strength relative to America’s. Its frailties—social, political and economic—could eventually imperil both its own stability and its dealings with the outside world.

==============================================================
tenacious persistent in maintaining, adhering to, or seeking something valued or desired  *a tenacious advocate of civil rights*  
nettlesome IRRITATING
intellectual  an intellectual person
play up  EMPHASIZE;  also   : EXAGGERATE,
fearful  causing or likely to cause fear, fright, or alarm especially because of dangerous quality  
hard edge the hard edge of its rising power" means the strongest, toughest, most to be feared part of its rising power.its alludes to a sword:might, strength, cutting
Treasury a governmental department in charge of finances and especially the collection, management, and expenditure of public revenues
reserve currency a currency which is held in significant quantities by many governments and institutions as part of their foreign exchange reserves. It also tends to be the international pricing currency for products traded on a global market, such as oil gold. reserve 指储备金
rubble broken fragments (as of rock) resulting from the decay or destruction of a building
exploit to make productive use of
plight an unfortunate, difficult, or precarious situation
outbound outward bound 对外的
spree an unrestrained indulgence in or outburst of an activity
hallowed turf to respect greatly,the upper stratum of soil bound by grass and plant roots into a thick mat 这里连起来用指神圣的领地
capitalism an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market 即 资本主义
disruptive to break apart  : RUPTURE 破裂的
intentions what one intends to do or bring about 意象 意图
resentful   full of resentment  : inclined to resent 充满愤恨的
epidemics  an outbreak or product of sudden rapid spread, growth, or development  *an epidemic of bankruptcies*
parallels something equal or similar in all essential particulars  
thorn a woody plant bearing sharp impeding processes (as prickles or spines)
fret to cause to suffer emotional strain
bilateral affecting reciprocally two nations or parties  *a bilateral treaty*  
roiled to make turbid by stirring up the sediment or dregs of

========================================================================
comments

What the article conveys is an American perspective on Sino-American relationship. Being witnessed by the globe, Chinese rapid growth in economy and military force is now under the spotlight. Western countries, principally the US, are becoming more and more worried on their biggest potential counterpart in Asia. Though the Chinese government has accentuated several times that it can be more willing to accept American’s domination than recent days, the US is still in worried and block china’s progress in many ways, technology exchange, marketing share and etc. However, at the end of this article, it somehow prove to American citizens that China is and will be dwarfed under the US that it is not necessary to worry that much. Personally, I agree with this point, because what ranks China on the top three (and will become the second over Japan soon) is its country’s GDP while when this figure is divided by its population, it’s no more than $3500 which less than one-tenth of America’s. Taking this point of view, we, as the new generation of china, have to take a more suffer burden to compete with the globe.

adammaksimUID: 2675466

tenaciously=坚定不移地

hint at

play up=emphasize

reserve currency= a currency which is held in significant quantities by many governments and institutions as part of their foreign exchange reserves.

in effect

chafe at

FDI=foreign direct investment

the status qou=原来的状态

drain one's strength

China may have growing financial muscle          economist很喜欢用的一个比喻

Between the communist victory in 1949 and President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China in 1972 there had been as little contact between the two countries as there is between America and North Korea today.

comments:

This is not a fresh topic for me. With its fast developing economy and growing foreign exchange reserves (most dollars), a stronger China in both politics and military is not surprising. Unlike a 'concealing one's ability and bide one's time' one in the past, now China is actively delivering his influence throughout the world. In a debate held by the Economist recently argued about whether China is showing more leadership than the America in fight against the climate change, 70% people voted yes. And when facing the financial crisis, China also presents itself as a responsible nation that can be trusted by others.

Maybe a time of G2 will finally come someday, however, before this idea comes true, we should wait patiently. Partly attributed to China's so-called authoritarian, in dealing with some big problems like climate change and natural disaster Chinese government can work faster and more effectively than its counterpart in America and implements some important policies which seem impossible in democracy. But as it is said in this report China has its own problems which may be masked by the revealing economy prosperity. Like an earthquake, it will be too late when those problems gather enough power to attract our attention.  

kulewy531UID: 2603031

A special report on China and America
A wary respect

Oct 22nd 2009 From The Economist print edition


America and China need each other, but they are a long way from（far from） trusting each other, says James Miles.

“OUR future history will be more determined by our position on the Pacific facing China than by our position on the Atlantic facing Europe,” said the American president as he contemplated (ponder, meditate) the extraordinary commercial opportunities that were opening up in Asia. More than a hundred years after Theodore Roosevelt made this prediction, American leaders are again looking across the Pacific to determine their own country’s future, and that of the rest of the world. Rather later than Roosevelt expected, China has become an inescapable part of it.

Back in 1905, America was the rising power. Britain, then ruler of the waves, was worrying about losing its supremacy to the upstart. Now it is America that looks uneasily on the rise of a potential challenger. A shared cultural and political heritage helped America to eclipse British power without bloodshed, but the rise of Germany and Japan precipitated global wars. President Barack Obama faces a China that is growing richer and stronger while remaining tenaciously authoritarian. Its rise will be far more nettlesome (vexation) than that of his own country a century ago.

With America’s economy in tatters(rugs) and China’s still growing fast (albeit (although) not as fast as before last year’s financial crisis), many politicians and intellectuals in both China and America feel that the balance of power is shifting more rapidly in China’s favour. Few expect the turning point to be as imminent (impending)as it was for America in 1905. But recent talk of a “G2” hints at a remarkable shift in the two countries’ relative strengths: they are now seen as near-equals whose co-operation is vital to solving the world’s problems, from finance to climate change and nuclear proliferation.
Choose your weapons

Next month Mr Obama will make his first ever visit to China. He and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao (pictured above) stress the need for co-operation and avoid playing up their simmering (炖， 酝酿)trade disputes, fearful of what failure to co-operate could mean. On October 1st China offered a stunning display of the hard edge of its rising power as it paraded its fast-growing military arsenal through Beijing.

The financial crisis has sharpened fears of what Americans often see as another potential threat. China has become the world’s biggest lender to America through its purchase of American Treasury securities, which in theory would allow it to wreck the American economy. These fears ignore the value-destroying (and, for China’s leaders, politically hugely embarrassing) effect that a sell-off of American debt would have on China’s dollar reserves. This special report will explain why China will continue to lend to America, and why the yuan is unlikely to become a reserve currency soon.

When Lawrence Summers was president of Harvard University (he is now Mr Obama’s chief economic adviser), he once referred to a “balance of financial terror（threat）” between America and its foreign creditors, principally China and Japan. That was in 2004, when Japan’s holdings were more than four times the size of China’s. By September 2008 China had taken the lead. China Daily, an official English-language newspaper, said in July that China’s massive holdings of US Treasuries meant it could break the dollar’s reserve-currency status any time. But it also noted that in effect this was a “foreign-exchange version of the cold-war stalemate based on ‘mutually assured destruction’”.

China is exploring the rubble of the global economy in hopes of accelerating its own rise. Some Chinese commentators point to the example of the Soviet Union, which exploited(make good use of) Western economic disarray during the Depression to acquire industrial technology from desperate Western sellers. China has long chafed（摩擦） at controls imposed by America on high-technology exports that could be used for military purposes. It sees America’s plight（predicament） as a cue to push for the lifting of such barriers and for Chinese companies to look actively for buying opportunities among America’s high-technology industries.

The economic crisis briefly slowed the rapid growth, from a small base, of China’s outbound direct investment. Stephen Green of Standard Chartered predicts that this year it could reach about the same level as in 2008 (nearly $56 billion, which was more than twice as much as the year before). Some Americans worry about China’s FDI (不理解这个缩写的意思), just as they once mistakenly did about Japan’s buying sprees, but many will welcome the stability and employment that it provides.

China may have growing financial muscle, but it still lags far behind as a technological innovator and creator of global brands. This special report will argue that the United States may have to get used to a bigger Chinese presence on its own soil, including some of its most hallowed turf, such as the car industry. A Chinese man may even get to the moon before another American. But talk of a G2 is highly misleading. By any measure, China’s power is still dwarfed（被矮化） by America’s.

Authoritarian though China remains, the two countries’ economic philosophies are much closer than they used to be. As Yan Xuetong（阎学通，居然是我们学校的老师） of Tsinghua University puts it, socialism with Chinese characteristics (as the Chinese call their brand of communism) is looking increasingly like capitalism with American characteristics. In Mr Yan’s view, China’s and America’s common interest in dealing with the financial crisis will draw them closer together strategically too. Global economic integration, he argues with a hint of resentment, has made China “more willing than before to accept America’s dominance”.

The China that many American business and political leaders see is one that appears to support the status quo(不理解，没查到这个) and is keen to engage peacefully with the outside world. But there is another side to the country. Nationalism is a powerful, growing and potentially disruptive force. Many Chinese—even among those who were educated in America—are suspicious of American intentions and resentful of American power. They are easily persuaded that the West, led by the United States, wants to block China’s rise.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the restoration of diplomatic（这个词用的很有趣） ties between America and China, which proved a dramatic turning point in the cold war. Between the communist victory in 1949 and President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China in 1972 there had been as little contact between the two countries as there is between America and North Korea today. But the eventual disappearance of the two countries’ common enemy, the Soviet Union, raised new questions in both countries about why these two ideological rivals should be friends. Mutual economic benefit emerged as a winning answer. More recently, both sides have been trying to reinforce the relationship by stressing that they have a host of new common enemies, from global epidemics to terrorism.

But it is a relationship fraught with contradictions. A senior American official says that some of his country’s dealings with China are like those with the European Union; others resemble those with the old Soviet Union, “depending on what part of the bureaucracy you are dealing with”.

Cold-war parallels are most obvious in the military arena. China’s military build-up in the past decade has been as spectacular as its economic growth, catalysed by the ever problematic issue of Taiwan, the biggest thorn（刺，对应于我们经常说的“绊脚石”） in the Sino-American relationship. There are growing worries in Washington, DC, that China’s military power could challenge America’s wider military dominance in the region. China insists there is nothing to worry about. But even if its leadership has no plans to displace American power in Asia, this special report will say that America is right to fret（vex） that this could change.

Politically, China is heading for a particularly unsettled period as preparations gather pace for sweeping leadership changes in 2012 and
2013. Mr Hu and the prime minister, Wen Jiabao, will be among many senior politicians due to retire. As America moves towards its own presidential elections in 2012, its domestic politics will complicate matters. Taiwan too will hold presidential polls in 2012 in which China-sceptic politicians will fight to regain power.
Triple hazard

This political uncertainty in all three countries（英国人把台湾看做国了） simultaneously will be a big challenge for the relationship between China and America. All three will still be grappling（grab） with the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Urban Chinese may be feeling relaxed right now, but there could be trouble ahead. Yu Yongding, a former adviser to China’s central bank, says wasteful spending on things like unnecessary infrastructure projects (which is not uncommon in China) could eventually drain the country’s fiscal strength and leave it with “no more drivers for growth”. In recent weeks even Chinese leaders have begun to sound the occasional note of caution about the stability of China’s recovery.

This special report will argue that the next few years could be troubled ones for the bilateral relationship. China, far more than an economically challenged America, is roiled by social tensions. Protests are on the rise, corruption is rampant, crime is surging. The leadership is fearful of its own citizens. Mr Obama is dealing with a China that is at risk of overestimating its strength relative to America’s. Its frailties—social, political and economic—could eventually imperil（threat） both its own stability and its dealings with the outside world.

Comments:
As a rising power of the world, China, which ideologically differs from other counties, are destined to face much challenge. The county can easily be regarded as a potential enemy by other counties of capitalism.
But, actually, the situation can be totally different, if both China and other counties open up their minds. In this commercialized world, the rulers are not nations or governments any longer but a global market with a set of fairly executed laws. Once China, a country with a population of 13m people enter the market, the whole world should learn to dance with the giant.

123runfordreamUID: 2697608

Contemplate:
Inescapable
Commentators
Be fraught with: be full with
Tenaciously, tenacious: persistent in maintaining, adhering to, or seeking something valued or desired
Aftermath
1. America was the rising power
2. the balance of power is shifting more rapidly in China’s favour
3. China is exploring the rubble of the global economy in hopes of accelerating its own rise.
4. China’s power is still dwarfed by America’s
5. they are a long way from trusting each other
6. Its rise will be far more nettlesome than that of his own country a century ago.
7. On October 1st China offered a stunning display of the hard edge of its rising power as it paraded its fast-growing military arsenal through Beijing.
8. ruler of the waves
9. China is exploring the rubble of the global economy in hopes of accelerating its own rise.


1.These fears ignore the value-destroying (and, for China’s leaders, politically hugely embarrassing) effect that a sell-off of American debt would have on China’s dollar reserves.
2.But it also noted that in effect this was a “foreign-exchange version of the cold-war stalemate based on ‘mutually assured destruction’”.
3.This special report will argue that the United States may have to get used to a bigger Chinese presence on its own soil, including some of its most hallowed turf, such as the car industry.


Comments:
We don’t know what we need until we are at the corner. Same as the situation between China and America when we look back towards our history in this certain conditions, the financial crisis , considered about the economy dependent on each other laying china and America , the argument analysis the current progress in this relationship.
China has become the biggest lender to America during the financial crisis by purchasing American Treasury securities. “Why China will continue to lend to America, and why the yuan is unlikely to become a reserve currency” that is also what issue I can’t figure out. It has become a no denying fact that China is a rising power. However, China is still not mature enough to replace America. In fact, China’s industrializations based on the plenty human resources instead of high technologic facilities are a big part. We are taking the advantage of big population, which compared to the developed economy market of industrialized countries is not a bright side.
Speaking to the development of these two countries, the author suggest that it is a long way to pursue, since china has its social problems while America has his owns.

zhengchangdianUID: 2563082

Comments:
Accordingto the author, China has got trapped in the mash of social, political and economicthreats, which would undermine its stability in the long run. First of all, noone can deny the fact that China still falls behind America in some aspects,such as the technology creation. At the same time, the increasingly seriousproblems-rising protest, rampant corruption and surging crime-get in the way ofChinese prosperity.


However,there is nothing wrong with totalitarian and patriotism in the Chinese land. Thehistory has taught us a lesson that a government with strong central power doesnot mean the ignorance of democracy and the deprivation of human rights. It isnot wise to allow everyone to make his choice with absolute freedom, for hemust take his own demand into consideration first. The same is true for thestate governments when making their own policy. On the contrary, the totalitarianpaves the way for the collective power aimed at making policy from an overall pointof view. Besides, the centralism could provide opportunities to gathering resourcesfrom the whole country as well as making use of the national power.


What’smore, the patriotism is seen as a traditional virtue in our ancient culture.Facing the numerous challenges, Chinese people have already learned the appropriateway to deal with them. To illustrate this point clearly, here’s a good example.April 19, a Chinese student made a solemn and exciting speech to demonstratehis support for Beijing Olympic 2008 and boycott against the unjust media. His philosophicaland logical reasoning, analytical formulation, authentic French, passionate,beautiful voice and sooth but bombarding like speed made the Chinese cheeredand the French shocked and ecstatic. This event implies that the Chinese areshaking off the yoke of irritation/hot temper and getting used to settling disputerationally.


In sum, though China and America differin numerous ways, the both sides are making their efforts to pursue themutually economic development in the frame of peace.

AdelineShenUID: 2630498

不知能否守夜，占了先
zhengchangdian 发表于 2009-12-20 13:03

今晚我大概不回寝室了。。。

windandrain2004UID: 2597690

占楼，来晚了～

tequilawineUID: 2702008

好句：
1 But it also noted that in effect this was a “foreign-exchange version of the cold-war stalemate based on ‘mutually assured destruction’”.
   比喻很多。但是它同时也显明了事实上这是外汇储备上的冷战僵局，建立在可以互相残杀的基础上。这么说对么？
2 It sees America’s plight as a cue to push for the lifting of such barriers and for Chinese companies to look actively for buying opportunities among America’s high-technology industries. 什么意思呀？
3 Nationalism is a powerful, growing and potentially disruptive force.
4 A senior American official says that some of his country’s dealings with China are like those with the European Union; others resemble those with the old Soviet Union, “depending on what part of the bureaucracy you are dealing with”. 可不可以说是看问题一分为二
5 Protests are on the rise, corruption is rampant, crime is surging.  并列句

生词：
wary   contemplate   eclipse precipitate   tenaciously authoritarian    tatter    trade disputes   rubble  chafed at   buying spree   lag behind
turf    status quo    catalyse  

it's is always too complcated for anyone that wanna to explain the relationship between us and china in one word, cause we all know changing situation and all facets lied in two countries cooperation and competition lead to the dilemma let alone the different community organization. from the passage, the author wanna convey spectators  the signal Uncle Sam and eastern dragon making effort to heading up together, though uncertainty indeed exist between triangle relationship,china ,us , taiwan.  i think it is radiculous for some experts to regard china as a it's is always too complcated for anyone that wanna to explain the relationship between us and china in one word, cause we all know changing situation and all facets lied in two countries cooperation and competition lead to the dilemma let alone the different community organization. from the passage, the author wanna convey spectators  the signal Uncle Sam and eastern dragon making effort to heading up together, though uncertainty indeed exist between triangle relationship,china ,us , taiwan.  furthermore, i reckon it is radiculous for some experts to regard china as a potential rival,without considering the whole nation power.
by contrast, china do have some his own problems such as tenaciously authoritarian, governmental corruption and polarization of rich and poor. taking into account any one metioned before, either of that  can lead to a sever stability disaster of the country.

emteddybearUID: 2699606

good sentences:
1.On October 1st China offered a stunning display of the hard edge of its rising power as it paraded its fast-growing military arsenal through Beijing.
2. American Treasury securities 美国国库证券
3.It sees America’s plight as a cue to push for the lifting of such barriers and for Chinese companies to look actively for buying opportunities among America’s high-technology industries.
4.China’s military build-up in the past decade has been as spectacular as its economic growth, catalysed by the ever problematic issue of Taiwan, the biggest thorn in the Sino-American relationship.


MY COMMENTS:
This report is mainly about the relationship between China and America. I infer that the writter must be a American. Many stanpionts shows that. America set most of the high technology as embargo to China, but the reason is that China buy such high technology is only for military. And also there is another problem, that is TAIWAI.

But the main idea of the report is that although China is the biggest lender to Aerica, America should not  be afraid China, and yuan will not be a reserved currency soon. For one thing, the level of high technology in China is  incomparable to Americas. For another, although China is a socialism country, its economy is quite capitalism, and America and China have common interest, which to make them friends.

what's more the last paragraph listed some big problem of China, to some extent, it's true although overly. I don't how would our leaders feel when read this report. But I think they should calm down and think about these probelms when go with the fast speed of growing up.

This special report will argue that the next few years could be troubled ones for the bilateral relationship. China, far more than an economically challenged America, is roiled by social tensions. Protests are on the rise, corruption is rampant, crime is surging. The leadership is fearful of its own citizens. Mr Obama is dealing with a China that is at risk of overestimating its strength relative to America’s. Its frailties—social, political and economic—could eventually imperil both its own stability and its dealings with the outside world.

sharp tongue