In recent years, everyone from peasant to policymaker has either heard or contributed to the chatter about China’s meteoric rise and its status as the world’s next superpower, and for good reason. American leaders have largely caught on to this belief, and recently, during Chinese president Hu Jintao’s visit to the United States, they showed the world how serious they were about improving relations with China. President Bush received Hu with full military honors, and showed the utmost respect for him. That is to be expected: the United States has, after 15 years of dominance following the fall of the Berlin Wall, recognized a counterpart in the international arena. China is not the next future superpower: in many ways, it’s one already.

There is good reason to believe that China will rise to full superpower status in a few decades, if not sooner. For one thing, China has 1.3 billion people, about four times as many as the United States. That gives it the world’s largest supply of manpower, whether for economic or military purposes. China’s economy is the second largest in the world when measured by Purchasing Power Parity, with a GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of just over $8 trillion. When measured by exchange rate terms, China has the fourth largest economy in the world, with a GDP of $2.25 trillion. China’s economy is also one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, with a GDP growth rate of close to 10% in 2005.

But the figures, as impressive as they are, don’t tell the whole story of the already-pervasive influence of China’s robust economy. The actions of the Chinese are continually growing in their influence over global wages, prices, and interest rates. The purchase and holding of US Treasury bonds by the Chinese government is possibly one of the main reasons behind the United States’ growing trade deficit, which has caused excessive borrowing and spending. The rising price of oil is also partly China’s doing: while during previous periods of high prices, the prices went up because of an interruption of supply, in this case the high prices are because of increasing demand, largely in China (and to some extent, India). And while previous periods of high oil prices were usually accompanied by inflation, the inflation one would expect now is counterbalanced by falling prices in other areas, again largely due to cheap Chinese goods. These cheap Chinese goods are also surprisingly responsible for driving up housing prices worldwide because of the decrease in bank interest rates and ensuing increase in borrowing that they allow to occur. Such influence on global markets already makes China an economic powerhouse.

China’s growth has influenced foreign policy makers psychologically as well. This influence can be seen by the strong reaction elicited from many American policymakers to China’s policies on valuing its currency, the yuan. Many analysts believe that China undervalues its yuan to increase exports. Until last year, the yuan was strictly pegged to the US dollar, and as the value of the dollar fell, the market value of the yuan also fell, even though its real value was estimated to be higher. Many American politicians incorrectly blamed the US trade deficit on this undervaluation. Last July, China finally removed the peg to the dollar and instead pegged the yuan to a basket of foreign currencies, and as a result the market value of the yuan rose relative to the dollar. Many American policymakers want the White House to push for an even higher appreciation of the yuan. The Bush administration is calling for the further appreciation of the yuan, but the White House, seeking good relations with China, has decided against accusing China of currency manipulation, angering some. Chinese monetary policy, it seems, is unexpectedly influencing American domestic politics as well.

China also currently has the world’s largest military in terms of manpower, with 2.255 million active troops on duty. Of course manpower is only of limited importance; technology (best measured by military expenditure) is easily as important, if not more important. But even in this field, China probably ranks second in the world in military expenditure, with an estimated military budget of around $80 billion (China’s true military budget is hotly debated). This is still far behind the United States’ (ranked first) budget of over $500 billion, but we can only expect this gap to narrow as China’s economy grows. And of course, China has a substantial nuclear arsenal and more than adequate capabilities of deploying it.

But despite its power and progress, the question arises: are American leaders and their counterparts in the Western world treating China with too much respect? After all, we couldn’t possibly have forgotten and forgiven China’s countless human rights abuses, many of which are still ongoing. Neither could we have forgotten about China’s complete lack of transparency in government and lethargy in awarding basic freedoms to its citizens. It is wise to avoid conflict with China and ensure a peaceful relationship, but that does not mean we should be so timid as to ignore our many differences on principle and back down from China on certain issues.

So while it may be apparent that in the not-too-distant future China will be on par with, if not surpassing, the United States in terms of power, we can’t simply sit and twiddle our thumbs and wait for that to happen. We have to make sure that by the time China is in the position of a superpower, it has gotten rid of all of its authoritarian baggage. China has one of the worst human rights abuse records in recent history. The most prominent of these recent abuses is of course the Tiananmen Square Massacre, during which Chinese authorities reacted violently against a peaceful democratic student protest, leaving thousands of casualties (in fact, it is estimated that some 50 people are still in prison for that incident).

The Chinese government has also carried out systematic persecution of certain peoples, most notably Chinese Christians and followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement. In fact, a Falun Gong supporter protested (albeit rather disruptively) Hu Jintao’s reception on the White house lawn. Bush later apologized to Hu for the disruption, which is appropriate, but he was markedly silent about the injustice in China’s treatment of the Falun Gong movement, even though the opportunity to make a stand for justice was staring him in the face. In fact, during the entirety Hu’s visit, human rights were not even discussed once, despite that in the past, the United States has been quite firm regarding China’s policies of persecution. China’s growing power should not change that in any way; on the contrary, it adds to the urgency of the problem.

China’s determination to maintain a stranglehold on Taiwan is another issue of contention. Recently, the United States has been coming closer and closer to adopting in full a “One-China policy” mainly to appease the Chinese mainland. This apparent abandonment of democratic principles in East Asia seemingly contradicts the same policy of supporting democratic principles the United States is pushing for in the Middle East. We must remain firm and consistent in our democratic ideals. While it is quite possible that Taiwan will eventually be peacefully reunited with the mainland, as long as the Taiwanese themselves express the desire for independence, how can we not give them our full support? Again, we cannot let China bully us into taking a weaker stance.

China’s clout in international politics is being felt now more than ever. In two major global security issues, the United States is desperately seeking Chinese cooperation: Iran and North Korea. As a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, China can reject any initiative that the US wishes to push through the UN. China also has as much, if not more, influence over East Asia, and is thus essential in our dealing with North Korea. But this does not mean that we must gloss over all of our differences just to get them on our side. Cooperation is possible even when open disagreements exist. Rather than begging on our knees for China’s cooperation, the US must convince China that the resolution of these issues is in the interest of both countries and in the interest of global security. The Chinese government is pragmatic; it would not refuse cooperation when it is in its self-interest to accept it, even if we call the government out on its human rights abuses.

We must do what we can to make sure that that China’s rise is on our terms. There may come a time when China is much more powerful than the United States (most likely many decades away), and we must make sure that China has truly reformed well before that happens. It would not bode well for the world to have a superpower that carries out routine persecutions, engulfs neighboring territories, maintains forced labor camps, squashes dissent, and overtly controls the press (and you thought the United States was bad!). It’s time to take a stand against China, while we still have the leverage to do so meaningfully.