In the Eye of the Storm? Implications of China in the Corridors of Global Power

Three years after the demise of the Union of Soviet Socialist States (USSR), Nixon (1994:45), a former United States of America President, warned his fellow citizens in the following unequivocal terms: China has emerged as the world’s third strongest military and economic power…. We should not underestimate China’s ability todisrupt our interests around the world if our relationship became belligerent rather than cooperative.Whether or not Nixon’s observation is true is no longer an issue for debate and should not detain us here. What is important and should be noted is the fact of China’s steady and sustained rise into global prominence since the exit of the USSR and the emergence of what is now variously christened the “New World Order” (NWO) or “Uni-polar wrld”. Indeed, since the early 1990s but more forcefully atthe wake of the 21st century, China’s emergence and growinginfluence as a world power is not in doubt. Several ndicators point to this fact.