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World shakes as China's global footprint deepens in 2006
By Karl Malakunas
AFP
BEIJING
Petroleumworld.com 12 21 06From the oil fields of Africa to the living rooms of American homes and Asia's shopping malls, virtually every part of the world felt the impact in 2006 of China's ongoing, spectacular transformation.
China's successful courting of Africa during the year, which resulted in a strengthened alliance of some concern to the West, was one of the most striking features of the country's seemingly inexorable rise as a global power.
President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing visited 16 African nations in the first half of the year, with tapping the continent's energy resources one of their top priorities.
China later hosted a summit of African leaders in November and hailed it the biggest diplomatic event since the Communist Party established the People's Republic in 1949.
China uses "peaceful rise" as a mantra when referring to its development, well aware that many countries are concerned that the growing power of the world's most populous nation is a threat as much as an opportunity.
But perhaps in a sign that China is becoming increasingly emboldened, Hu made a speech in India that appeared to deviate from cautious rhetoric and left no doubt about his view on the shifting balance of global power.
"If India and China take the necessary steps to strengthen trade and business, the 21st century will be Asia's," Hu said during his November trip.
India and many other nations looked to forge closer ties with China in 2006, viewing it as essential to their own economic progress.
China officially became the world's fourth biggest economy at the beginning of the year. It then recorded more stunning economic growth that is expected to amount to around 10.5 percent for 2006 as a whole.
Meanwhile, the country's status as the world's "factory floor" grew, with China pumping out a phenomenal amount of cheap products that helped its trade surplus soar to another record high.
The surplus was again a key cause of friction between China and its major trading partners, which maintained the Chinese were using an unfair foreign exchange policy to gain a trade advantage.
Consequently China's tight rein on its currency, the yuan, was one of the hot-button issues in 2006. The United States led a barrage of complaints that the yuan remained dramatically undervalued.
Another sign of China's growing global clout was the appointment in November of Hong Kong's Margaret Chan as the new chief of the World Health Organization. Chan became the first Chinese national to head a United Nations agency.
All eyes were also on China amid global efforts to defuse the crisis triggered by North Korea's first test of a nuclear bomb on October 9.
China is the North's closest ally and its efforts on the issue were welcomed in Washington -- although the year drew to a close without any major breakthrough in the stand-off.
Domestically, China's Communist Party rulers continued to struggle with massive corruption in their own ranks and the many problems linked to the nation's economic boom, particularly unchecked environmental degradation.
In the biggest political scandal to hit China in over a decade, the party's chief in Shanghai, Chen Liangyu, was sacked in September over the misuse of around 400 million dollars of the city's pension fund.
China's preparations as host of the Olympics in 2008 were also tainted by graft, with the vice mayor in charge of construction for the Games, Liu Zhihua, sacked in June for corruption.
However, organizers insisted corruption would not affect the event, while International Olympic Committee chiefs remained confident that China's preparations were going very smoothly.
But corruption and a blinkered focus on wealth by many in China remained major contributors to the nation's worsening environment, as well as rising social unrest.
The country's top environment watchdog, Zhou Shengxian, said in November that China's environment had reached a critical point where health and social stability were under threat.
AFP 21 0228 GMT 12 06
Copyright© 2001 AFP All Rights Reserved.
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