Can Asia’s Biggest, Baddest Economy Conquer the U.S.?
Rebecca Graebner /
China (GDP: $5.9 trillion) overtook Japan ($5.5 trillion) as Asia’s largest economy in 2010. Despite its rapid growth and much larger population, however, China’s economy still remains less than half the size of the U.S. ($14.6 trillion). Recent reports indicate that China’s economy has been showing signs of slowing, further extending the U.S.’s position as the Pacific’s leading economic power.
Asia is home to more than half the world’s population. Freedom and tyranny live side by side, as do economic opportunity and poverty. Asia is home to some of the most unstable, dangerous nations in the world, and it is home to some of the most steady and reliable. It is also home to the only country in the world capable of emerging as a peer competitor for global American influence: the People’s Republic of China.
Every year, The Heritage Foundation releases Key Asian Indicators: A Book of Charts. The 2012 version is now available at heritage.org. Follow the link to access this helpful resource and get information on everything Asia—trends on political/security issues, data on Asia’s fastest growing economies, Asia’s top investors in the U.S. economy, and the real numbers on who owns the most U.S. federal debt.