Impact of China’s Growing Global Position on the Economy of the Czech Republic

Abstract

Research background: The People’s Republic of China in the 21st century can be described as an economy with high growth rates and great ambitions. Some statistics even indicate that China will become the world’s new hegemon by 2040. The People’s Republic of China is not only one of the largest exporters but is increasingly speaking to the world economy and international relations. Since the beginning of the 1990s, mutual relations between the People’s Republic of China and the Czech Republic can be described as very good and constantly deepening, which can be evidenced, among other things, by the number of trade agreements. Purpose of the article: Purpose of the article is to evaluate a development of mutual relations between Czech and Chinese economies in order to predict their future development. Emphasis will be placed on the development of mutual trade through the evaluation of absolute and relative indicators and growth rates. Methods: The paper is based on secondary data from the database of the Czech Statistical Office. The key methods used in the article are the analysis of time series of real products of the Czech Republic and China and their foreign trade. The analysis focuses on the trend, deviations and development of absolute and relative indicators. Findings & Value added: The results of the analysis proved that the Chinese economy is growing on average more than twice as fast as the Czech economy. Because of that, the economic/living standards of the population of both countries are converging. The growth rate of the People’s Republic of China, together with its high spending on science and research, means that (if this trend is maintained) China is likely to become the world’s new hegemon in the near future.