Dan Southerland criticized the book, When China Rules the World written by Martin Jacques, on the Christian Science Monitor. Chinese People's Daily Online extracted some passages from the article on January 13. Some experts predict China would overtake America and become the richest country within 20 years. But Southerland thinks Martin Jacques wrote an "asinine story."
Jacques thinks China would take America's position within 50 years, to become a superpower in every field. Dan Southerland, however, as a reporter who had been residing in China in the 80's and 90's, said, "It is very difficult to predict this big country's future, even for the short term."
Recently, many big media corporations support Jacques' opinion, and it seems right. China recovered from the worldwide financial crisis earlier than any other countries, outstripped German and taking its position, the no. 1 exporter, also China became no.2 car producer. Moreover, China expects its growth rate will be over eight percent this year.
But Southerland disagrees with Jacques' thought, because he overestimated China's ability and ignored its problems. To Southerland, Jacques is not an expert on China. All of Jacques's data are from western financial experts or educated minorities who live in China's cities. His book seems that he has never listened to the poor who live in rural areas.
