Uh...like WarCore said... -- FawnDoo's Cavalcade of Whimsy

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Date Posted: 19:48:14 03/20/03 Thu
Author: Perceptor II
Subject: Uh...like WarCore said...
In reply to: Goktimus Prime 's message, "what defines a superpower" on 08:01:44 03/20/03 Thu

That kind of comment really embodies the kind of American arrogance that gives the rest of the world the sh*ts.

To butcher a quote: "It ain't arrogance if it's true."

At the moment, the leading world superpowers are:
(1) The United States of America. World's richest nation with the world's most technologically advanced military, with nuclear capability.
(2) Japan. The world's second richest nation with the world's largest stock exchange. Self Defence Forces only capable of short-range assault and is often involved in UN peace-keeping missions. No nuclear capability.

Japan, the world's second largest economy, could be considered an economic superpower, but doesn't have the military or the diplomatic influence to be considered a true superpower.

(3) The People's Republic of China. World's fastest growing economy with the world's largest military, with nuclear capability. Some economists argue that China's economy, if it continues to grow at the rate that it has been doing in the last decade, may easily overtake the US economy and dominate the world market.

"If it continues to grow at the rate" being the key phrase. Many other economists believe that sort of growth will be impossible to sustain. The reason that China's economy is growing so quickly is that they are better utilizing their resources (especially their able-bodied labor) more efficiently in the past, but even China's resources are limited, and as their resources become better utilized that growth will slow down.

On top of that, there are two obstacles toward China overtaking the U.S.:

1) Education. Particularly, the difficulty of Chinese citizens to obtain a broad education or exchanging information with colleagues in other countries while living in a closed society.

2) A big chunk of China's economic growth is the result of American investment. American businesses don't see China as a competitor, but as a vast uptapped market. Several American media outlets (the Washington Post being one) suggested that a reason why China decided to give back the spyplane at all was because they didn't want to lose those American investment dollars.

China is at best a "regional" superpower. Not my words, or the words of any American. Those are the words of China's own government. They could fight the U.S. to a standstill on their own soil or in a country nearby, such as Taiwan or perhaps Japan. Venture outside that rather tight sphere of influence, and China gets plastered in a military conflict with us. While in raw troop numbers we're talking about a 6:1 advantage for them, having weapon systems that produce a 16:1 kill ratio (the ability on average to make 16 comparable kills before the unit is either destroyed or disabled) is a big equalizer (and that number's probably conservative, as it's based on some less-advanced U.S. weapons of a decade ago taking a Soviet military a bit more advanced than China's).

Economically, while China may one day come to rival the U.S., it's still quite a ways down on the totem pole. Perhaps when China surpasses, say, France, then we can start talking about them being able to throw some weight around economically in the present tense.

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