Introduction

The Chinese socialism is based on a nation-building model learned from the former Soviet Union. The corollary, converse proposition is that China is a strategic threat: A unified China is a threat. This argument has several threads. The first is the view of anticommunists who maintain that China retains a totalitarian character. The second is the belief that China, possessing nuclear weapons, seeks to be the regional hegemonic power. The third is the contention that as an economic power China will become a source of instability in the global economy. In 1994, due to natural disasters, Chinese grain production dropped 11.39 million tons below the previous year. Further, prices rose dramatically due to the error in judgment of pushing too quickly to commercialize the grain distribution system. The Chinese economy appears to be catching up with the Japanese economy during its high-growth period.