China's currency, the yuan, has just hit a new high against the U.S. dollar. Meanwhile, largely due to China’s increasing consumption, oil prices soared to $100 a barrel for the first time ever, reaching that milestone amid an unshakeable view that global demand for oil and petroleum products will continue to outstrip supplies.
While the rest of the world is gloomily contemplating economic slowdown and even recession, China is set to make 2008 the year it asserts its status as a global colossus by flexing frightening economic muscle on international markets, enjoying unprecedented levels of domestic consumption and showcasing itself to a watching world with a glittering Olympic Games.
The world's most populous nation will confirm its transformation in three decades from one of the poorest countries of the 20th century into the globe's third-largest economy. (It is widely predicted to overtake Germany as the world's third largest economy this year.)
Last year, China surpassed America as the greatest driver of global economic demand.
The U.S., despite its vast wealth and power, presently places only in 12th position among industrial countries, in the United Nations Human Development Index that ranks countries in terms of life expectancy, literacy, education and standard of living.
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