Yes, economic and commercial weight, and the political, cultural and military power of a country can inspire others to want to learn that country's language. And on the whole, I'd say it's a good thing that more people outside China are learning Chinese. One out of every six people in the world is Chinese, and China is indeed regaining its historical role as a major power in the world. Moreover, this time China seems less inclined or less able to be isolationist, which it often was in the past.

That said, the Chinese are also right to want to learn English. Aside from being the primary language of the world's largest economic power, it is the lingua franca of large parts of the world, in particular of India. This situation is unlikely to change anytime soon, although it could change over the very long term. In the end, though English has one major advantage over Chinese. English is easier to learn – having an alphabet means you only have to learn 26 characters to be able to read and become literate in English. To be literate even in basic Chinese one has to be able to recognize on sight something like 2000 pictogram characters, many of which are not readily distinguishable from others. The language would be much more readily learned if they switch to an alphabetic system, but doing so could be seen as a repudiation of China's own cultural legacy.

Food Shortage:

English is not "the" official language of India. It is one of fourteen or fifteen official languages in a country that is extremely polyglot. Since Indian independence, the official policy of the national government has been to promote Hindi as the national language, and to gradually move away from English until it was no longer necessary. It has not worked out that way for practical and political reasons. On the political level, although Hindi is the largest siingle language in India by number of speakers, people who speak other languages in India do not like the idea of yielding cultural/political supremacy to Hindi. English is less objectionable because the English are no longer the rulers in India, and the English language is seen as being relatively neutral ground among the competing linguistic groups in India. The practical side is that among India's elite and the rising middle class, English is seen as the language of economic necessity and success. Therefore they send their children to English language schools, or find other ways to ensure that they learn English. This tends to be a self-reinforcing trend.

Do you know why the world is learning Chinese like crazy?

China is learning English like crazy as during the last years of its feudal society and many of the first years of its establishment, the doors to anywhere outside the country was closed. The country was ravaged by opium and war, and general hostilities towards the west were rampant. These conditions brought China to almost a halt in development. Which was a strong contrast to older eras in feudal China, when the Chinese have always been a prominent power in the world, whether ruled by Mongolian, Manchurian, or Han emperors. When the Chinese did open the borders again, the language of the dominating players on the global level was English. China, at that moment in time, with less resources and assets in comparsion with the English speaking nations, had to learn the language to be able to trade and partner with the world.

Now, however, as China steadily rises to power, many foreigners see Chinese as the new essential language to learn as they do want to be partners with and have trades within China.

It's all about power. The language spoken by the people with the most assets, resources, and promise is the language that people will learn. At this moment in time, that language is Chinese.

Of course, there are still the individuals who just have a passion for languages, and for those individuals, I truely envy your scholarly spirit.

When 98% of the population in Arizona and California become Spanish speaking (in less than 50 years), English speakers from America can come to China to live. Or, welcome to India (where English is already the official language).