ISWORLD WEEKLY COLUMN/BLOG

August 28, 2026

729 words

More than 50 years on, China mixes free market business acumen with tightly held Communist politics

 China (and Africa) rising: From hunger and poverty

 to a world-class economy (s)

By Ishmael-Lateef Ahmad

Columnist/Blogger-At-Large

It’s been more than 54 years since American President Richard Nixon visited China in hopes of ending two decades of silence between the two nations. 

Last February marked the anniversary of the 1972 visit by Nixon with the intent on ending 23 years of diplomatic estrangement. Among the stated goals of the trip was to curry favor between China, and other China-leaning nations, in U.S. efforts to end the ongoing cold war between world superpowers. An apparent by-product of those efforts eventually led to a new China and the one that exists today.

The journey of the new China began in the 1970s. Since then, it has evolved over time from a mostly agricultural nation of just under a billion people with little hope for a bright future, to the modern nation it is today. It now has a population of 1.4 billion people, is filled with developing cities shooting skyward and outward, and teeming with educated youth determined to take China’s transformation to the next level.

In the mid-1970s – and plagued with massive hunger and a hard-scrabble agrarian lifestyle for workers throughout much of China – that nation’s leadership began a quest to feed the hungry and put the nation on a track to solve its massive wealth deficit.

Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong met with Nixon when he arrived. The five-decade legacy they started in 1972 has helped transform China from a starving poverty-stricken nation to the number two economy in the world.

Xi Jinping currently is the president (since 2012) and paramount leader of China (since 2013). He took over from Hu Jintao who served from 2003-2012.

I recall in 1975 when Nixon met with Chinese leaders. Later, we would learn that Nixon had laid the groundwork for a trade deal with China that would one day transform the historic Asian nation into the hustling bustling economy it is today.

Unfortunately, that transformation would later lead to closing factories in America and shipping jobs to China, thereby exploiting lower wage-earning Chinese workers to do what middle-class workers in America were doing for more, better pay.

While the United States is still ranked the No. 1 economy in the world at $32.38 trillion in Gross Domestic Product, China is at No. 2, sitting at $20.85 trillion GDP. Rounding out the list of top 10 nations and their GDP economies are:

– Germany………………$5.45 trillion

– Japan………………….$4.38 trillion

– United Kingdom………$4.26 trillion

– India…………………...$4.15 trillion

– France…………………$3.60 trillion

– Russia…………………$2.56 trillion

– Italy………………….…$2.47 trillion

– Canada……………..…$2.42 trillion

Once hailed as a country with a strong Communist politic, China today appears to be reshaping Communism into a new brand. While still favoring Communism as the political imperative of the nation, when it comes to personal choices in China it appears to be meeting the 21st Century in the middle and providing hope for its citizens and the world. 

That brand of political acumen calls for creativity, and business smarts that gets the job done and brings home the bacon.

And so far, China has done it well, even better – when compared to other nations with freer economies and lifestyles – than some of the very non-communist nations the Chinese have learned from.

China is not alone in the race of emerging 21st Century nations. The coming growth of African nations are on track to reach high development goals, as well.

For example, according to the Price Waterhouse Coopers' research, Nigeria is on track to emerge as the 14th largest economy on the planet by 2050. And Goldman Sachs projects it will join the top five in the world by 2075. Currently, Nigeria is ranked 19th as of 2025.

All said and done, the growth of China through a major act of diplomacy that changed geopolitics in the latter quarter of the 20th century and defined the socio-economic and political topography of the 21st century is only the beginning of what could become a better world for billions of people.

(ISHWORLD: The International Search for Humanity is a complimentary column created and distributed to media by freelance journalist & blogger Ishmael-Lateef Ahmad. Based in St. Louis, Mo., he can be reached via ishworldcolumn@gmail.com or his website at https://payhip.com/ISHWORLDcolumns).

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