I strongly believe that China is one of the super power in the world in present days. There are a few factors that contribute to the rise of China as one of the “Super power”.

 

Firstly, the geographical location of China gave itself a nickname “The Asian Fortress”. China is in the East of Asia, most of its borders are surrounded by ocean, jungles and mountain ranges. To be more detailed, its south eastern border is mostly jungle which is difficult to travel through. Its east borders are surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. The South and West of China border is the world’s tallest mountain range, Himalayas. These natural barriers act as a kind of protection for China since its early days as a direct invasion is nearly impossible.

 

Secondly, China’s military strength is another factor that contributes to the rise of China. Its military strength is ranked top 3 in the world. China has got about 2,183,000 active military currently. The military budget of China as of year 2018 has been announced to be approximately 1.11 trillion Yuan ($175 billion). This would mean that there is a 1.1% increase compared to the 2017 budget. At the same time, this is also the largest defence budget raise in three years. As can see from all the figures above, we can all agree that China is putting in tremendous effort in strengthening its military strength. By doing so, China portrayed itself as a country who is ready to fend off any possible threats. Numbers don’t lie, the amount of money pumped in and the number of active military is enough to show the military prowess of China.

 

Thirdly, China is also economically stable and strong. It is the world’s second largest economy. China has achieved an amazing average of 10% economic growth, in the process, lifted almost half of its 1.3 billion population out of poverty. In fact, China’s economy has already overtaken then United States in terms of GDP (Gross Domestic Product). China is the world’s largest manufacturing economy and exporter of goods, second largest importer of goods and the world’s fastest growing consumer market. China being one of the largest trading country in the world, plays a prominent role in international trade and increasingly engaged in trade organisations and treaties in recent years. We can all agree that China has been prospering since their Chinese Economic Reform in 1978. Since the beginning of the reforms, China’s GDP has risen tenfold. Even so, some scholars still believe that China’s economic growth has been understated, due to large sectors of the economy not being accounted for. From all these, I truly feel that China is currently the “engine” of the regional (Asia) growth and even world growth.

 

Finally, China leadership style is also a very important factor for the China’s rise. Since the PRC established, China has been very particular when it come to selection of their leaders and who to lead the different offices in the government. China will no be where they are right now without constant improvement and great leaderships. China being such a big nation, if it’s without a charismatic leader it will be like what the Chinese say, “群龙无首” (a figurative speech for lack of leadership; leading to non-coordinated actions). Taking China’s current leader, Xi Jinping Chairman as an example, he has demonstrated a leadership style that is different from his predecessors. His leadership style can be summarized as the populist style. The populist elements show his efforts to consolidate his power.  He however is tough, and we could say merciless than his predecessors in terms of managing political issues. When it comes to foreign relations, he has maintained a tough stance towards territorial disputes (South China Sea, Natuna Islands, etc) and American domination in the Asia-Pacific region. Xi Jinping is consistently ranked as one of the world’s most influential and admired leader and people, leading to his political prowess and massive fanbase in China. In fact in 2018, Forbes, an American business magazine ranked Xi Jinping as the most power and influential person in he world, dethroning Vladimir Putin whom held the record for 5 consecutive years.

 

All the above points are factors which contributed to the rise of China to becoming one of the Super power in the world. China basically have almost everything in its favor to continue to prosper.