Why Every American Should Care About China

Why Every American Should Care About China
The Emerging Superpower Is Forging Relationships Where the U.S. Isn’t
By BOB WOODRUFF, GABRIELLE TENENBAUM, SUSAN SCHAEFER and MEENA HARTENSTEIN
Aug. 6, 2008 – From ABCNEWS.com

When the Olympics begin Friday in Beijing it will be a “coming out” party of sorts for China.
China’s economy continues to grow, and it’s having an impact on our country.

Beijing hopes this will be a bright spot in what has otherwise been a tough year — the country was hit by a devastating earthquake and rocked by scandals over tainted food and medicine and toxic toys.

There have been protests, both within China and in other countries, about its human rights policies in Tibet and Darfur.

Even the Olympic torch relay, normally a celebratory event, sparked demonstrations around the world.

Now billions of eyes will be focused on a nation that has become so important to so many, yet remains misunderstood. Many people, perhaps most vocally in the United States, fear China’s growing power and influence around the world. But it is unavoidable.

“The rise of China is the single most important geopolitical event of the 21st century,” said John Thornton, professor and director of Global Leadership at Tsingua University in Beijing. “And the implications of that rise are enormous.”

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Why Every American Should Care About China

Source: abcnews.com

China’s Expanding Influence World Wide

Bob Woodruff examines China’s power
ABC correspondent went to three continents for documentary

By Paul J. Gough

Bob Woodruff (Getty Images photo)

Click here to view a slide show on ignitecast.com

NEW YORK — The reporting for “China Inside Out: Bob Woodruff Reports” took the ABC News correspondent to three continents for work on a one-hour documentary that examines China’s growing power in the world.

Woodruff and his crew traveled to Angola, Brazil and Cambodia tracking how the Chinese have become major players on the world scene. As documented by “China Inside Out,” the Chinese are doing business in Mato Grosso, Brazil’s soy fields so they can help feed their 1.3 billion people. Thousands of Chinese are working in the African country of Angola as the two countries help each other, with Angola receiving a major infrastructure boost while China gets access to millions of barrels of oil. But China is also looking to its neighbors like Cambodia for its relationships.

“The Chinese are all over the world in the age of China globalization,” Woodruff said. “Initially, we decided we’d do a story on China’s growth without going to China.”

Of course, in the nine months of reporting, Woodruff and his crew did go to China too. It’s a country that holds importance to Woodruff’s career. He was a lawyer and teacher in Beijing when the Tiananmen Square protests began in 1989. He was hired as a translator for American broadcast journalists covering the story, and discovered that he wanted to be a journalist. That’s the track he followed when he left China, eventually leading to ABC News.

“It’s a completely different country than when I was there,” Woodruff said.

Instead of mostly bicycles, there are cars everywhere. There’s a large rise in the middle class and a move from other parts of the country to the East Coast. And, as explained in the documentary, China has become a world power after years of isolation.

Woodruff said that it’s important that Americans understand China beyond what they’ll see this month during the Olympics.

“We have a long-term relationship with them and we need to know as much as we can about what it’s about and what is being accomplished and how it’s changing,” he said.

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Source: www.hollywoodreporter.com