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Do you mean something like “dominant superpower”? Because China, the former USSR, and the USA were commonly referred to as the superpowers until the collapse of

Do you mean something like “dominant superpower”? Because China, the former USSR, and the USA were commonly referred to as the superpowers until the collapse of the USSR, which leaves the USA and China (and Russia? I don’t know). Is the USA, today, more powerful than China? It’s not clear.

wolverine876 5y ago
> China, the former USSR, and the USA were commonly referred to as the superpowers until the collapse of the USSR China was not referred to as a superpower at that time, during the Cold War. I've never read that. China was a very poor, economically and politically unstable country that was little threat to its immediate neighbors, much less a global power. It was not like China now. > Is the USA, today, more powerful than China? It’s not clear. It is clear today. The United States has far more political, economic, military, and 'soft' social power than China. For example, China could not orchestrate the response to Russia's invasion anything like what the US did. The US also has a network of alliances across the world, and most of the worlds most powerful countries and almost all advanced economies are part of those alliances. The US military, as a very visual symbol, still dominates China's own region as well as the rest of the world. Not only is the US currently more powerful, but the alliances in aggregate dwarf China. That is the problem with dictatorships - no friends, other than the ones they buy or compel. What people are concerned with is that, in the next 10-20 years, China might have the potential to challenge the US. Right now China's government is focused on becoming the dominent regional power - a major challenge, competing with the US alliances of Japan, S Korea, Australia, India, and others - and being able to conquer Taiwan over US opposition. In contrast, the US not only is the leading power in its own region, North America, but in South America, East Asia, Europe, the Middle East, etc. etc.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  > China was not referred to as a superpower at that time, during the Cold War. China was frequently referred to as a superpower in the late Cold War era (sometimes a regional superpower whereas the USSR and USA were global superpowers, based simply on military force projection—China was a global power by other measures—and at that a probably somewhat optimistic view of late-Cokd War Soviet capabilities.)
  - wolverine876 5y ago
    Can you provide some examples? I read a lot of international relations literature; while I am not an expert, I don't recall seeing that. > China was a global power by other measures By what measure? Not economically; they were very poor. Not culturally.

wolverine876 5y ago

> China, the former USSR, and the USA were commonly referred to as the superpowers until the collapse of the USSR China was not referred to as a superpower at that time, during the Cold War. I've never read that. China was a very poor, economically and politically unstable country that was little threat to its immediate neighbors, much less a global power. It was not like China now. > Is the USA, today, more powerful than China? It’s not clear. It is clear today. The United States has far more political, economic, military, and 'soft' social power than China. For example, China could not orchestrate the response to Russia's invasion anything like what the US did. The US also has a network of alliances across the world, and most of the worlds most powerful countries and almost all advanced economies are part of those alliances. The US military, as a very visual symbol, still dominates China's own region as well as the rest of the world. Not only is the US currently more powerful, but the alliances in aggregate dwarf China. That is the problem with dictatorships - no friends, other than the ones they buy or compel. What people are concerned with is that, in the next 10-20 years, China might have the potential to challenge the US. Right now China's government is focused on becoming the dominent regional power - a major challenge, competing with the US alliances of Japan, S Korea, Australia, India, and others - and being able to conquer Taiwan over US opposition. In contrast, the US not only is the leading power in its own region, North America, but in South America, East Asia, Europe, the Middle East, etc. etc.

dragonwriter 5y ago
> China was not referred to as a superpower at that time, during the Cold War. China was frequently referred to as a superpower in the late Cold War era (sometimes a regional superpower whereas the USSR and USA were global superpowers, based simply on military force projection—China was a global power by other measures—and at that a probably somewhat optimistic view of late-Cokd War Soviet capabilities.)
- wolverine876 5y ago
  Can you provide some examples? I read a lot of international relations literature; while I am not an expert, I don't recall seeing that. > China was a global power by other measures By what measure? Not economically; they were very poor. Not culturally.