MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Wealthy China is good for the world, says Bill Gates

US military and economic power peaked in 1947,Gates said

China's growing wealth is good for the world, and there will come a time when the influence of the United States shrinks to the level of its share of the world population, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said at a meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank, IDB in Miami.

"The fact that China is getting rich is overall a very good thing. The fact that more minds are getting educated is huge. If you care about the human condition, really then a richer China is better" said Gates who is among the five richest men in the world. "If you think of this theme of relative power, you're just into 'My country is the most powerful,' then you're going to have to be nostalgic and think back to 1947" he said, recalling that was when US military and economic power peaked. Gates, who in June will leave behind his executive responsibilities at Microsoft to dedicate himself full-time to the charitable activities of the Gates Foundation, said economic and social advances in the rest of the world would inevitably erode U.S. predominance. "The fact is the United States is 5% of the world's people. At some point we are going to have 5% of the world's influence and that's OK," he argued. China with a booming economy hungry for raw commodities has poured money into Latin America in recent years to get a slice of the region's large mining and agricultural sectors. The growing Chinese presence in an area the United States traditionally viewed as its backyard has awakened some concerns among US military officials and long term strategists. China's accelerating military spending in particular has caught the eye of the Pentagon and its increasing role as a holder of US debt and its huge share of US imports has also prompted some hand-wringing among US conservatives.