United States- China- Taiwan: A Precarious Triangle.

China's 1.2 billion people, combined with a record-breaking twenty years of rapid growth, make it likely that the Middle Kingdom will become the second economic superpower sometime during the twenty-first century. A warning also sums up challenges that face Americans in dealing with that fascinating national array of strengths and weaknesses. When viewed separately, each of the many aspects off policy involving China is difficult — economic, political, military and environmental. However, when one considers the many interrelationships and then add the third part of the triangle — Taiwan — the policy challenges become increasingly complicated. Anyway that one looks at it, China is becoming an important economic power, once again. Using a form of comparing national economies known as purchasing power parity the Chinese economy is now more than half as large as that of the U.S. and larger than Japan's. More conventional measures show China in seventh place, but coming up rapidly. China is now the ninth largest trading nation in the world. It is a major trading partner of the U.S. More than $70 billion of commerce flows each year between two nations.