Question

the development of Japan and china and which one in your opinion is more developed? if there is a war, who has the better chance of winning. which country is financially secured?

Answer 1

Japan and China are neighbors of each other and they have a very complicated relationship with each other. Both countries have a long history and China was more advanced in historical times. However, Japan absolved from its 'hermit kingdom' image and adopted the expansionist strategy. In World War II, it has captured almost 3/4th of China. The nuclear attack on Japan and its subsequent surrender turned the country towards 'pacifist' nature. However, it continued its economic progress and achieved tremendous development in electronics as well as automobile field.

China, on the other hand, marred by political instability and it is only in the last two decade it was able to achieve economic growth. Ironically, it is the time period when Japan started its economic decline because of the ageing population and rising debt on the economy. However, a major part of the Chinese population is poor and works on a paltry sum. China has surpassed Japan in the GDP but per capita income is still far lower in China. If we only choose economic development as the factor then Japan is more developed than China.

However, as mentioned earlier that Japan has turned pacifist after WW II and so it has stopped its military modernization and only maintained the force for self-defense. This has given China a clear advantage and it has now far more developed in military terms than Japan. The interesting fact is that Japan has been guaranteed for its security by the US through the treaty which means in case of an attack on Japan, the US will be responsible to protect it. This changes the war equation as the US is the sole superpower in this world.

In terms of security financially, both the countries are on shaky ground as their economy is export-oriented and does not have a strong, robust internal market for consumption. Japan is already fighting deflation in its economy while China is plagued by corruption and slowing demand worldwide. However, debt to GDP ratio for China is around 50% and that for Japan is almost 200%. Again, China seems to be more secure financially than Japan.