The Collision of Giants!

A French expert compares the two economic giants.

An article by Pascal Julien was published by AFP on April 17th.

He makes a point-by-point comparison of the world's two largest economies.

- Geography and Population:

The United States, China, Russia, and Canada are the four largest countries in the world, all with more than nine million square kilometers of area.

China is the second most populous country in the world after India, with a population of 1.4 billion, which is four times that of the United States.

- Economic Giants:

According to data from the International Monetary Fund, the United States is the largest economy in the world, with a GDP exceeding $29 trillion in 2024, followed by China, which exceeds $18 trillion.

According to data from the World Trade Organization, in 2024, China was the largest exporter of goods in the world, with total exports of $3.6 trillion, while the United States was the largest importer of goods, with total imports of $3.4 trillion.

According to data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United States had a huge trade deficit with China in goods trade, reaching $355 billion in 2024.

- Digital Giants:

The United States is home to the "GAFAM" tech giants: Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft.

China has its own tech giants, the "BATX": Baidu as a search engine, Alibaba as an e-commerce platform, Tencent as a video game and social media company, and Huawei and Xiaomi as smartphone manufacturers.

Chinese startup DeepSeek shocked the global artificial intelligence community in January with its R1 chatbot, which achieved functions comparable to Western competitors at extremely low cost.

- Military Giants:

The United States is the largest defense spender in the world.

According to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, U.S. military spending was $916 billion in 2023, three times that of China, which ranked second with $296 billion in military spending.

- Space Race:

China sent its first "astronaut" into space in 2003 and has invested billions of dollars in its space program over the past few decades, having its own independent space station.

In 2019, the unmanned probe Chang'e-4 successfully landed on the far side of the moon, marking the first time in history.

China hopes to launch a manned lunar mission by 2030 and plans to establish a lunar base.

The NASA Artemis space program plans to send astronauts back to the moon by 2027 and conduct future Mars missions.

Original Source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1829694450785291/

Disclaimer: The article solely represents the author's views.