Original scientific paper
The People's Republic of China and the world
Ivan Šimonović
Abstract
China is a state with a population of one billion and three hundred million people, with a civilisation that dates back five thousand years and with the fastest growth rate in the world. Another piece of information one can find striking: it has the greatest number of mobile telephones. These statistics demonstrate that already today China plays a major role in international affairs and, according to all indications, it will play an even more important role in the future. China has recently become a member of the World Trade Organisation, a circumstance that lends a new dynamism to China's trade and other relations and will in all likelihood have a beneficial effect on the trade volume and economic development. What is quite evident, in any case, is that ever since it began to open up in 1978, China has been making giant steps in economic growth and there is no reason to believe that this rapid progress will come to a halt. Of course, the period since 1978 has not been uniform in character. There were a number of events of which we can say that they threatened to a certain extent this favourable trend in China. The unfortunate events in Tien An Men Square, as well as the Taiwan crisis in 1996, were extremely serious. However, in one way or another, China managed to overcome all difficulties, to regain stability after each crisis, so that we still look upon China as a stable country, in which the fourth generation of Chinese leaders have taken up their places.
Keywords
China; international relations; foreign policy; Croatia
Hrčak ID:
6557
URI
Publication date:
1.10.2003.
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