What defines the 1st decade of the century

14:28, December 23, 2009

Li Hongmei People's Daily Online

As time ticks by, the first decade of the 21st century is soon fading into history. Standing at the threshold of the New Year, people tend to look back at the days gone by while combing the memories of tears and smiles. Indeed, it is time to take stock of what the 10 years mean to the world and what defines the landscape of the first decade of this century, which some even say is a "sinking decade".

A sinking decade or not is what different people might hold different views. But this is a decade of events and cataclysmic change. The first few years of the decade witnessed an age of terrorism, which stunned the world by extreme acts of violence initially because, perhaps, it cannot do so with political message. However, after the 9/11 terrorist attack, the international community turned against Taliban and Al Qaeda, and the U.S.-led counter-terrorism mission has since gained the popular support from both within and outside from the U.S.

On the other hand, the superpower United States, acting as the world leader for more than six decades, has therefore fallen into a nightmare: Bush mired his country in two wars that would yield very little effect but cost much a lot in time and money----it was estimated that the Iraqi war and the prolonged war in Afghanistan would cost two trillion U.S. dollars. And meanwhile, never before has the image of America been so irreparably ruined, when the pictures of torture of prisoners-of-war at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisons shocked the world.

Till late 2008, George W. Bush was booted out of the White House by the voters in despair, never has the superpower reversed the downslide. Ironically, the Taliban insurgency dies hard. Instead of being eradicated by the enhanced presence of U.S. troops and its NATO allies, the Taliban militants have grown strong and smart with escalated fighting. That explains why Time magazine has called the period a "Decade from Hell" for the U.S.

America's nightmare has wound its way, since Bush's watch, into his successor Barack Obama's term, which started with a desperate effort to get out of the quagmire of the disastrous war on terror but only to find---- too deeply bogged down in to make a quick exit. With time, opinions within NATO over the dawdling battle are divided, driving a wedge between the U.S. and its European allies. At the time NATO in itself is already on the verge of bankruptcy.

The U.S.-style fall from grace is not only seen in its declining stereotype as the "leader and good cop" of the world, but in its harsh reality. The meltdown of Wall Street in September 2008, which triggered the global economic downtrend, was also attributable to the loopholes in the U.S. financial system, say, the financial supervision and governance.

What is related above might so readily lead to a conclusion that the decade gone by could be epitomized as a drama of "sinking" years with the U.S. starting and starring. But if viewed from another prism, scenes would vary with different players, as the global structure has been undergoing a fundamental change in the decade.


The U.S. Newsweek once published an article by Fareed Zakaria, stating the scale of China's achievement scored over the past three decades, or the rise of China, as oft-quoted, would be in the long run far more impressive and consequential. Zakaria even remarked, "the real trend of the decade has been the rise of China from a Third World nation to the second-most-important country on the planet."

What Mr.Zakaria commented on China's influence over the world and the decade might be a bit overstated, as China is still the world's most populous and largest developing country, and still on its road to revitalization and modernization; Besides, China's galloping growth of the overall GDP at around 10 percent a year cannot eclipse the basic truth that its per capita annual income is still way lagged behind by the developed world.

But it is also true that in this decade China has been racing with time to narrow down the gap. And in actuality, what took 100 years in Europe has taken one generation in China in terms of streamlining and boosting the economy.

On top of the rapid and still robust economic growth, China's effective measures and strong performance in the unfolded financial crisis and reforms in other aspects have also helped catapult the nation to stardom in the first decade of the 21st century. Even so, China alone cannot alter the world, nor can it define the global landscape over a decade. Considering the world is increasingly going globalized and multi-polarized, one player will by no means unravel the problems facing all. "One log cannot prop up the tottering structure," as the popular saying goes.

What defines the outgoing decade? Seemingly, there is no definite answer to the question. Perhaps, it is "change"-- the very word that set the basic formula for the U.S. President Obama's election campaign--that may shed some light on what have been going on worldwide over the 10 years. What's more, behind the "change" is the change of roles for the world players and, the constantly changed pushing hands to propel the entire world forward