Posts tagged West

Just read an article on the economist Dambisa Moyo and her views on how the Chinese are pretty much in front in purchasing many commodities at over their recommended value. China is the world’s largest buyer of many raw materials such as iron ore, copper, lead and crude oil and also soya beans! Over the recent years, China has been paying too much for many resources and the Western countries are not impressed. China has been working together with developing countries that are ‘rich in commodities but poor in political and and economic capital’, China treats these countries as their equals, they invest in the country, make it better, increase employment and thus infrastructure. A family member recently came from Malawi and mentioned that there was a huge surge in the population of Chinese in the last two years in Malawi and they (the Chinese) are making it better. So, what was the problem of the West?

Developed countries are unconcerned with the natural resources running out, it has been part of the school curriculum for many years that fossil fuels are running out and we should be searching for alternative methods to generate energy especially as the world population is increasing and more technology is being used. However if it does not directly affect the person, they do not care! If we were to go forward to the future, how are we going to generate enough energy to match that transferred when non-renewable fuels are burned? How are we able to generate enough energy that does not deplete after just one hour of driving or one hour of talking on the mobile phone? If the problem is not present at the moment, it seems in the West it does not matter as long as we are comfortable.

The Chinese are not perfect however it does seem that when the other countries are fighting for resources in the future, China will have looked after their people better than the rest. When China increased the level at which people were considered suffering from Poverty in November 2011, it helped the country in that many more people had access to state benefits. China ensured that compulsory education, basic medical care and housing was available for the majority of the population. The current trend of a widening rich-poor gap in China was reversed.

China seems to be looking afteir their future and I feel that other countries should be doing the same.