China's Long Arm

First broadcast October 2007

As part of the BBC World Service's Ruling China season, China's Long Arm comprises two series of two programmes each.

Programmes 1 and 2 look at China's military expansion.

Programmes 3 and 4 charts how China is becoming a key player in the world through its hunt for natural resources.

Programme 4: Minnesota's iron for China

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In its global search for natural resources, China has turned its attention to America where Chinese investment has enabled the re-opening of an abandoned iron mine in Minnesota.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has led the largest delegation of American businessmen ever to visit China. His administration is enthusiastic about links with China.

Reopening the mine has brought jobs and prosperity to the area and they hope to strengthen the economic links further.

Minnesotans support their governor's eagerness to build trade links with China, and Lucy Ash finds that learning Mandarin has become a fashionable option in local nurseries.

But elsewhere in the US many are worried by the deepening economic ties with China. They fear that America's position will ultimately be weakened by such close links.

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