Why China Matters

By Danielle Kaith Medina

Management Association of the Philippines’ session last March 2, 2022, entitled “Why China Matters”, was a conversation with Jaime Florcruz, the most prominent among Philippine journalists in the global scene. This event, co-hosted by the Commission on Higher Education and the Asian Institute of Management, aimed to provide university and higher education leaders with an opportunity to understand how people-to-people relations contribute to enriching our own understanding of the biggest country in Asia and its people.

China matters because it has a sprawling landmark — it occupies nearly the entire East Asian landmass. Recently suffering from environmental degradation and resource depletion in 2010, China became the world’s second-largest economy, next only to the U.S., but the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund predicted that China can become the largest economy in the world by 2028, just six years from now. And if China becomes the largest economy in the world, it will be the first time in a long, long time that a non-English-speaking, non-western, non-democratic state ever emerged as the largest economy in the world. If so, China will surely impact our lives even more.

China matters because it’s a powerful country. It has powerful, modernized armed forces, with a 2 million-strong army; well-funded, well-oiled, blue-water navy; powerful missiles; supersonic fighter jet planes; and nuclear weapons. The country is also becoming a dominant power in space. So, if the global war moves to space, China will surely be there to fight it out.

China matters because it’s the world’s most populous country, with 1.4 billion people. The current and emerging lifestyle of the Chinese will surely affect the future of our planet. In fact, China is currently number one in the world in terms of purchasing power and, according to the World Bank, more than 850 million Chinese have been lifted out of extreme poverty.

China is important in our lives and its importance is only bound to grow. As they say, when China sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. That was not true before, but now, whatever China does can shift stock markets up or down. In fact, it has happened in recent years because China is already a superpower — its government and its people are reshaping the world. It has, unfortunately, taken a pandemic for many of us to wake up to just how powerful or important China is, how far its decisions can shape our world, and change our lives.

Please visit and join the John Clements Talent Community.

About the author:

Kaith is a Psychology graduate from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and a registered Psychometrician. Dancing and anything related to food is both her hobby and passion. She is a dog lover who enjoys spending free time with family and loved ones. Kaith loves exploring new things and activities that makes her grow as a person.