the rising economy of china

Just how long will it take for China to overtake the States?

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that the Chinese economy will surpass that of the U.S. by 2016. In five years, China's share of the global economy will ascend from 14 percent to 18 percent.

The U.S.'s share on the other hand will descend to 17.7 percent, according to the China Daily.

China has been the fastest growing economy in the world for almost three decades. In the words of Sahi Muja, President and CEO of Albanian Minerals in New York, “China has become the engine of the world's economy."

(More on NewsFeed: The China effect)

Muja highlights that the world's fastest-growing major economy consumes more than a third of the world's aluminum output, a quarter of its copper production, a tenth of its oil and accounts for more than half of the trading in iron ore.

China is also the largest producer of food and agricultural products, pork, seafood, cotton commodities, textile and electronic products, he said.

The IMF's study has caused controversy in the U.S., with former Governor Mitt Romney, in an interview with Fox News, describing American policy as too "relaxed towards China." This follows credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's plan to downgrade U.S. sovereign debt outlook.

The U.S. and China will be discussing human rights this week; let's hope this world ranking debate doesn't get in their way.