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I think it's unreasonable to argue that China isn't a regional power since it's bullying its way through the South China Sea without any local resistance - I th
by munk-a 5y ago
I think it's unreasonable to argue that China isn't a regional power since it's bullying its way through the South China Sea without any local resistance - I think the fact that the US isn't opposing China in this in any sort of meaningful way sort of reinforces the argument that they may be a super power. However, I find the strongest argument as to their super-power-ness to be their extreme infrastructure investments in south asia (Gwadar Port in particular but also their various investments in Ceylon and the Red Sea) and Africa. China is working hard to establish a monopoly on rare earth mineral extraction.
However, due to the astronomical amount of military spending the US continues to commit to I think it's fair to argue the point. China might have been a super power in the 80 with this level of global investment - but the US is just going into orbit.
- edgyquant 5y agoNobody is arguing China isn’t a regional power though? It being a regional power is irrelevant and a bit of a strawman argument. Superpowers, by definition, are global powers a level above great power.
- munk-a 5y agoIt isn't a strawman argument - I was building evidence to support the position that China can probably be considered a superpower.
- edgyquant 5y agoIt is a strawman. No one mentioned them not being a regional power yet you argued against that anyway.
- munk-a 5y agoJust to clarify - I used the argument that they're a regional power as an establishing fact for my further statements. This is HN and most arguments are made in good faith, you don't need to be so suspicious of the fallacies here - sometimes your sensors will go off incorrectly, as is the case here.