“China is a big country, where many Chinese live,” once said the former French president, Charles de Gaulle. A fairly simple – but not incorrect – analysis of the world’s most populous country. However, they will soon lose that title. New figures from the UN show that India will overtake China during the summer. Has taken several measures In a couple of months there will be 1.4286 billion living in India, against China’s 1.4257 billion. It happens after the Chinese population shrank last year for the first time in over six decades, Reuters writes. It still doesn’t seem like the country they call Zhōngguó – “The Middle Kingdom” or “The Country in the Center” – cares significantly about it. – We are not only dependent on quantity, but also quality, says spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin. The authorities believe that the country has taken several measures over time to avoid being harmed by the population decline. The state channel CCTV believes that the West portrays the population figures as a sign of disease, and that this is not true: – The US is stepping up its attempts to limit China’s development through further isolation, and has found new arguments in the UN report. Lower birth rates are common throughout the world. Even if there are fewer Chinese in the world, the streets of Beijing are unlikely to be completely empty anytime soon. Photo: TINGSHU WANG / Reuters Scrapped birth law At the same time, the Chinese authorities do not ignore the figures completely. After 35 years of a one-child policy, in 2015 it was allowed to have two children and in 2021 the number was increased to three. Experts fear the country may be hit by the same economic stagnation that hit Japan in the 1990s, when the wave of the elderly hit there. Earlier this year, the authorities said that the elderly make up a fifth of the population. – The Chinese economy is entering a critical transition phase, where it can no longer rely on a large and cost-effective workforce that can drive industrialization and prosperity further, HSBC economist Frederic Neumann told CNN. The shutdown of society during the pandemic has cost China dearly , and economic growth was only 3 percent last year, and was thus one of the weakest years in half a century. And if the Chinese economy slows down, there will be consequences outside the country’s borders as well – since it is the world’s second largest economy. Two main challenges Xi Jinping has ruled China with an iron fist for ten years, and is in his third five-year term. – During Xi’s period, China has acquired more economic and military power compared to other countries than ever before in modern history, says Jo Inge Bekkevold, senior advisor at the Institute for Defense Studies (IFS). Under Xi, China has officially abolished poverty in the country. Bekkevold believes that there are two challenges in particular that Xi will face in the coming years: – Firstly, to maintain sustainable growth in the Chinese economy, and secondly, to avoid an escalation of the superpower rivalry with the USA.
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