What is unbelievable is how the west has allowed so much manufacturing to be moved to China. This huge trade imbalance will eventually impoverish America.
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No, the Interest payments on the loans from China to pay for the war in Iraq will do that.
My stupid Government just signed an FTA with China, mostly because the US wouldn't. We have nothing the Chinese want that will help in anyway with out appalling balance of payments. They on the other hand get to flood our markets with cheap, dangerous toejam. Toys painted with lead paint, vehicles that don;t even pay lip service to modern design, testing, build, or safety standards, and electrical equipment that they bung a step down transformer in that can fry testicles at 30 metres.
NZ just placed a foot on the road to becoming a South Pacific Tibet. China plays a long game. Their mode of Government doesn't matter. Monarchy, Communist Despotism, Political Hegemony, or Principled Oligarchy, all make no difference to the impoverished illiterate peasant. 200 years from now NZ will be a Chinese province.