By Maksud Djavadov

The ongoing economic crisis not only exposes major faults of the modern capitalist financial and economic system, but also one of the major modern exaggerations, namely the might of China. Academic circles all over the world for the past decade were hyped-up by the idea that China was going to replace the United States of America as the next hyper-power.

However, the current economic crisis shows that China is much too dependent on the US. Chinese President Wen Jiabao openly stated in March 2009 that he is “worried” about China's exposure to US Treasury bonds.

A state, which is a candidate for the role of a hyper-power, would not be investing billions into the treasury bonds of another state. It would rather have other states investing billions into its treasury.

The ongoing PR campaign for the past ten years about Chinas power majorly played into boosting the image of the United States of America. After the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War the inclination of China towards the United States of America allowed the US to claim that only acceptance of the US model of economic, political and social order will lead to prosperity and progress. Chinese inclination towards the US allowed the US to claim that even a system as China's, which is very “backward” from the “free economy” can do well if it plays by the rules of the US established economical order.

It can definitely be said that Chinese acceptance of the US rules did benefit China in the short term. However, in the long run a country which is simply used as a cheap labor garage by the US corporations cannot prosper. The moment the standard of life will increase in China, US corporations will withdraw to abuse cheap labor in some other developing country. If China becomes rich it will most likely demand higher salaries for its citizens from foreign corporations in order for the citizens to sustain the higher standard of living and there is no way the US corporations are going to pay decent salaries to Chinese workers.

Unfortunately there are enough impoverished countries whose citizens can be paid pennies to work for US corporations. Therefore these US multinationals will move elsewhere. Furthermore, the dependence of the Chinese economy on producing for foreign companies, which usually brings the technological know-how with them, has limited China's own production capabilities. By tying China to itself economically the US made sure that Chinese economics function within the framework drawn up by the US.

The above is a tangible aspect on why China has an awfully long way to go before it can be seriously considered a candidate for the label of hyper-power. The non-tangible aspect consists of the reality that there is no internationally accepted concept known as the “Chinese way of life.”

However, if a person travels to the USA and then tours Brazil, UAE, France and other countries the “ American way of life” is very obvious, at least in some segments of the society. The ability of the US to market its consumer life style and its liberal ideology and brand it as what defines being prosperous and civilized is the corner stone of its status as the world's superpower. It would be difficult to find a teenager in the Philippines wanting to resemble a typical Chinese teenager, but an increasing number of Chinese teenagers would do almost anything to be like an American teenager. Therefore, China lacks the main ingredient to be a hyper-power, and that ingredient is a Chinese way of life.