China v. India: How will history judge the West in our response?

Gary’s thought for the month

During August, China became the world’s second largest economy, overtaking Japan, and the Economist published an excellent feature on the China-India relationship.

The feature pointed out a largely unacknowledged fact: that until 1800 China and India made up half the world economy. We like to act like these two behemoths are the new kids on the block. They’re not.

In the West, there are rightly concerns about human rights, freedom and access to relative prosperity in both countries, but it would be a mistake for us to make judgments based entirely on these concerns.

The debate should not be about whether the rise of these economies is good or bad. It is neither of those things.

The question is really whether we see the emergence on the world stage of these two ancient economies as an opportunity or a threat. History will judge us on how we react now, whether we work with the new world order, or against it, to bring freedom and prosperity to everyone.

Read more:

The Economist, China and India: Contest of the century, 19 August 2010

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