Martin Jacques’ new book, When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order, is causing controversy. Is it possible that China will “rule the world” in the not-so-distant future? Perhaps, but only if it’s able to successfully transform from an industrial-based economy to a knowledge-based economy, and then transform even further to an innovation-based economy.
China is off to a good start. It now has the largest higher education system in the world. Five of its universities are in the world’s top 100. University enrollment has more than tripled since 2000. More university degrees are awarded in China than in the U.S. and India combined. Over the past decade, annual awards of doctoral degrees in China have risen sevenfold. China recently surpassed the U.K. to become the world’s second-largest producer of academic research papers—and is on course to surpass the U.S. by 2020.
While the stereotype holds that Asians are not innovative, China has a rich history of innovation. The compass, gunpowder, papermaking, and printing were all invented by the Chinese.
Not content to serve as factory to the world, the Chinese government has been making enormous investments in its universities and stressing scientific and technological innovation. If China—with 20 percent of the world’s population and a rich history of innovation—is able to usher in a renaissance of innovation, then it could possibly “rule the world” in the not-so-distant future.