The world's infatuation with China can hardly be described as a love affair - if love is to be understood as a force that inspires and forges ties that transcend the material. We have all read about pretty young things marrying wealthy but physically unappealing men with repugnant personalities. One could be forgiven in assuming theirs to be contracts based solely on mutual utility.
Such is the present relationship between cash-flooded China and its suitors. But a country is defined by more than just its economy or the wealth of its institutions. Other factors - culture, history, governmental philosophy, the demographic and ethos of its people - contribute in determining its national identity. While all these factors are, to varying extents interlinked, none of them in themselves form the reason for the world's interest in China. No, we are not interested in China, but China's economy. It is the utilitarian pursuit of material benefit that drives this fixation.
Contrast this with America, that other superpower which captured the imagination of the world in the second half of the last century. It was not merely the strength of its economy that attracted the world to its shores and invited it to theirs. More than that, it was the universally-accessible standards of personal freedoms which led to the prevailing culture of creativity and experimentation and entrenched it in the forefront of cultural, scientific and technological advancement. For all its economic clout, China can hardly be accused of having the same degree of cultural and technological influence globally. For as long as China holds on to the rigidity of its authoritarian political system and restricts the freedoms of its people to the extent that it continues to do, it is difficult to imagine the same spirit of ingenuity and experimentation taking root in China. At least, not to the extent that is has in America.
We may have invested our money in the Chinese economy, but we will probably never invest our love in China as a country the same way many of us have done so with America as an model of liberty and ingenuity. Of course, its merits have sometimes come at great societal costs. Crime, for one, is endemic because of a lax penal code. But one might also argue that it is precisely this perception of relative impunity that has also contributed to the spirit of risk-taking and consequent popular creative ethos already discussed. It is safe to say that the American believes himself to have a wider berth of running afoul of the law than the average Chinese. Where creativity is defined as a dissent from convention, such a belief frees one to experiment and take risks - creative or otherwise.
Where pop-culture, technology and marketing savvy meet, the products of American ingenuity have permeated the world.
While the Renminbi may encroach on the domain of the American Dollar, love is a harder thing to displace. Our love affair with America will last even as we find a new sugar daddy in China.
