Instigator / Pro
Trent0405's avatar
3
Trent0405
1711
rating
34
debates
85.29%
won
Topic
#1142

China is a bigger threat to America than Russia

Status
Finished

The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.

Winner & statistics
Winner
3
0

After 3 votes and with 3 points ahead, the winner is...

Trent0405
Tags
Politics
Parameters
Publication date
Last updated date
Type
Standard
Number of rounds
3
Time for argument
Three days
Max argument characters
2,700
Voting period
One week
Point system
Winner selection
Voting system
Open
Contender / Con
Udit's avatar
0
Udit
1500
rating
1
debates
0.0%
won
Description

No information

Round 1
Trent0405's avatar
Trent0405
Pro
#1
WW=world wide.

China is a bigger threat to America than Russia in the sense that China is a bigger threat to America's spot as the strongest nation in the world.


China is much wealthier than Russia. The 3 ways I typically see wealth measured in is nominal GDP, GDP PPP, and GDP per capita.

Nominal- China=13.6 trillion(2nd WW). Russia=1.6 trillion(11th WW).

PPP- China=25.3 trillion(1st WW). Russia=4 trillion(6th WW).

GDP per capita- China=9.8 thousand (88th WW) Russia=11.3 thousand (81st WW). Some semi autonomous regions are counted like Hong Kong, that's why both rank so low. 

To address GDP per capita, China's GDP per capita hasn't fallen since 1987. But, Russia's GDP per capita has fallen 7 thousand dollars since 2013. China is certainly on pace to pass the Russian GDP per capita.

I know you'll reference the Russian military which ranks second WW while China's ranks 3rd. But, this point becomes trivial if the other nation holds a larger population pool, and a larger economy, if necessary China could presumably field more tanks, boats, aircraft, and nuclear missiles If necessary because of it's larger economy. China also spends more than two times more on military defense than Russia, largely due to how large the Chinese economy is. Lastly, Russia's military strength is deceiving, if you look at Russia's tank numbers you see that Russia has 4 times the amount of tanks that America has. This is misleading because of all of the old and outdated tanks that are counted, America opted to scrap old tanks while Russia opted to stored them. Russia still holds tanks like the T-35/85 and the T-54. these tanks were early cold war and late WW2 era tanks.

China is also becoming more influential by the day. China's foreign investments have swayed countries away from America and toward China, we see this clearly in the way these nations vote in the UN. This has led to China being the third biggest lender WW while Russia ranks tenth. 

I also fail to see how a nations military is more important than a nations economy. None of the worlds 44 largest economies have fought each other since WW2, while financially nations panicking over their productivity, debt, and foreign financial influence. Buying goods on the market has become cheaper and easier, while ceasing them by force is becoming harder and harder. The best example of this is Russia itself, when Russia seized the Crimea, sanctions crippled their economy, leading to it falling by over one trillion dollars in two years. Over those same two years China's economy grew by about 1.5 trillion dollars, and it wasn't through conquering foreign entities, it was through creating jobs, and new technologies. 




Udit's avatar
Udit
Con
#2
Forfeited
Round 2
Trent0405's avatar
Trent0405
Pro
#3
China's population is larger, this makes it's economy and military more scalable than Russia's.
Udit's avatar
Udit
Con
#4
Forfeited
Round 3
Trent0405's avatar
Trent0405
Pro
#5
China is stronger, for all of the reasons listed above.
Udit's avatar
Udit
Con
#6
Forfeited