China is no more the sleepy communist giant that the world knew decades ago. Today goods "made in China" can be found in supermarkets and department stores around the world and Chinese heavy industrial machinery and electronics are competing with those from advanced countries. Chinese officials and business leaders are combing the world for markets, energy sources and friends on all five continents. If the 20th century was the American century, the 21st century belongs to China, according to Ted C. Fisherman.

Many years ago, it was Japan, Inc, or USA, Inc. Today it is China, Inc. Examples of Chinese presence around the world abound. The Armani Emporium on Via Manzoni in Milan, which is Italy's fashion capital, includes Shanghai among its stores. Chinese electronics are being used by Palestinians, Arabs and Americans in mid-Western states. Some modern American hospitals now use MRI machine made with components manufactured in China, the Eiffel Tower in Paris was lit in red to celebrate the Chinese New Year, Boeing 757s contained parts made in China, and Chinese technicians are now working in oil fields in some countries that do not allow Americans because their governments are opposed to US foreign policy.

In 2003, China's GDP was 1.4 trillion US dollars when it was the world's seventh largest economy. The US led all countries with 10.1 trillion dollars. Some economists believed that Chinese GDP in 2003 was in fact much higher, at 6.6 trillion dollars, if one takes into account the high rate of economic growth and speed of development. At a closer look, the author says many factors have contributed to China's astounding and sustained economic growth because the country is a major recipient of foreign direct investment, foreign manpower and various resources. One country that contributes to China's economic growth is Taiwan. In the 1990s, Beijing rolled out the welcoming mat to overseas Chinese, including Taiwanese. The author says the official count is between 250,000 and 500,000 Taiwanese. Beijing has acknowledged at least up to 5,000 Taiwanese businesses in Shanghai with a total of 10 billion dollars in investment. By the end of 2003, Chinese authorities said there were a total of 14,400 foreign-owned businesses in Shanghai. In 2004, Shanghai attracted 12 billion dollars in foreign investment, an amount that was equal to the total foreign investment that went into the whole of Indonesia or Mexico. While Beijing has welcomed Taiwanese, their money, business skills and advanced technology, it has also asked them to abandon their aspirations for independence and democracy.

China also welcomes Japanese investment with open arms, but politics and past history sometime get in the way. Japanese companies early on detected vast opportunities to gain from investing in China. But China now can match Japanese products. Big Japanese consumer electronic companies such as Sony, Panasonic and Toshiba opened factories in China in order to compete on price. As a result the author says, "The Japanese now see their future prosperity tied tightly to China's growth."

If Taiwanese and Japanese economic activities in China are sometimes tainted by politics, China has had better involvement with a host of other countries. One example is Brazil, whose president, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, has skillfully cultivated ties with Beijing at the expense of the American farmers by satisfying Chinese demands for agricultural products such as the soy bean. Brazil's agricultural exports to China have quadrupled as Chinese diplomacy has taken a firm foothold in Latin America. China also supports Brazil in the World Trade Organization and its desire to gain a permanent seat in the UN Security Council in New York. China's challenges to the world include also unfortunately the issue of piracy. Here the author gives ample examples of Chinese piracy, which includes counterfeits of world well-known foods, electronics and fashion designs. "Can Americans and the rest of the world see what is happening in China?" the author asks. "On the face of things, it seems so." He warns that Chinese nationalism is rising in parallel with China's globalization. He says that China's growing economic and political clout, in addition to its military power, is threatening the peace in the Taiwan Strait.

"Today, the US can claim both the world's highest income among large countries and the world's biggest economy," the author says. "But if per capita income in China (measured by purchasing-power parity) were to double overnight, the size of China's economy would instantly top the US economy."