Poll: Will China Replace the US as the World's Leading Superpower?

[spartan231490]

What do ya'll think? If not, then which country (if any) will? China, India, Brazil, Germany and Russia have all been speculated to dethrone the US. So what do you think?

I'm not seeing it. All of those countries have economies that are based on the US economy. They all have massive reserves of US Dollars and they don't have the military to overtake us in that way. They rely on our success for their success so they can't really bring us down.

Personally, I don't think there will be a superpower in 2050. I think that economic issues will cause most nations to retreat from global interactions and focus on stabilizing their own economies and becoming less reliant on each other. For a few decades anyway. However, China has the best chance of retaining most of it's economic and military power and stability, but with the rest of the countries needing to withdraw into themselves, it won't mean that much IMO.

I'm going to be honest. If China ever becomes more economically dominant than us, we'll probably invade them. I'm not saying I want an invasion, it's just the likely course of events. Americans like being on top.

I kinda agree with you, but there's just one problem with that. China is probably the closest nation to us in terms of military power, and they have an incredibly strong alliance with Russia, one of the other close nations. If we try to invade, we would likely be facing China and Russia, and I don't think that we could win that war. Even if our European allies join us, and that's not certain. Also, imagine what would happen to the US if china stopped exporting goods to us. Our whole economy, already unstable, would collapse.

 

[savandicus]

China obviosly, they are the world leading nation already. they have the most advanced weaponry, the most money and the best economic system

No, the US is still on top for the first two. The best economic system is a subjective thing.

On Topic: The European union would have a good shot if it united as a nation. Not sure how likely that is of course.

The EU will not become a single nation. It just doesnt work that way (fortunately). If you counted the EU as a superpower though then it probsbly stands to be a world leader. My money is on madagascar though. Everyone knows that when the super virus comes it will kill everyone except for madagascar, its a proven fact.

Therefore by default of being the only country remaining it will be the worlds leading superpower.

 

[jpoon]

China already has replaced the US as the larger superpower. I would doubt that the US will make a return to that status without a complete change of government and revival of our constitutional republic status. KICK THEM ALL OUT, KILL OFF THE FED (and save trillions in self inflicted interest) and bring back the liberties we all used to have. That's about the only way I see the states making a comeback.

 

[HerbertTheHamster]

there is no such thing as a single superpower

if one of them crashes, all do. If the U.S. can't solve it's debt problem, china will suffer massively.

 

[Lethos]

China obviosly, they are the world leading nation already. they have the most advanced weaponry, the most money and the best economic system

No, the US is still on top for the first two. The best economic system is a subjective thing.

On Topic: The European union would have a good shot if it united as a nation. Not sure how likely that is of course.

The EU will not become a single nation. It just doesnt work that way (fortunately). If you counted the EU as a superpower though then it probsbly stands to be a world leader. My money is on madagascar though. Everyone knows that when the super virus comes it will kill everyone except for madagascar, its a proven fact.

Therefore by default of being the only country remaining it will be the worlds leading superpower.

I wouldn't talk in absolutes when you talk about the EU. If you had even imagined a slightly united Europe pre World Wars then you would be insane. Politicly, Europe changes so much that it's hard to make predictions.

 

[renegade7]

Impossible to say. If the US pulls its head out of its ass (and since I live here I hope they do) then it could remain more or less where it is. IDK about China, oppressive regimes don't last forever. But 40 yeas is a long time, anything could happen.

Or even better, why have so many different countries? Have a single, unified world government, and just skip the question entirely. That's what I think would be best, if it were something everyone could agree on (of course it wouldn't actually happen). Hell, we already have a world economy, so we're already like a third of the way there, were we to choose such a path.

 

[Setupdown]

I find it quite amusing some of these replies. Especially the ones saying China is Advanced. So what? Their upper class rides on some fancy train? 90% of their population are dirt poor farmers and industrial workers. Their cities are clouded with smog. And their property bubble is about to go pop, plunging it into another economic depression.

I'd think that economies likes Brazil, India and others will be very important. USA and Europe will still be leaders however.

 

[willsham45]

This is how I see it.

The US - will fall unless something changes soon
China - could very well already abandoning the us
Brazil - probably will try and stay independent they are doing ok i think not 100% sure
Germany- all depends on how the eu and euro goes, personally i like germany but not eu so will probally not
Russia - same as china only with cooler hats and vodca
India - no one is going to let them get ahead of the game

What i do know the us will fall a long time before it is announced or becomes common knowledge...maybe it has already happened.

Or something big will happen and the Canada will take over and we will all be forced to like hockey.

 

[renegade7]

Unfortuneatly China. I say unfortuneatly because they have really shitty human rights, inhumane stifling of free speech, and privacy? What privacy? If one nation has to be the most powerful I still prefer the States, as long as they do not invade us.

With a government like that, I doubt very much they will even exist as they do now by 2050.

 

[Jaime_Wolf]

I find claims like this very dubious. Mostly, I think it's just more stupid alarmism from US media figures who have a vested interest in making everyone feel like things are constantly getting worse and we're probably all doomed.

China has the population, but that does not at all equate to superpower status. If anything, it makes growth in many of the areas necessary for such status very, very difficult as you have to deal with massive problems just providing even basic goods and services to the population.

 

[cfb_rolley]

Australia already is the superpower. No one fucks with Australia, we have cassowaries, spiders with health bars and dingos that eat small children.

...then again we still get our shark punching gloves from china

 

[Comrade_Beric]

I'm going to be honest. If China ever becomes more economically dominant than us, we'll probably invade them. I'm not saying I want an invasion, it's just the likely course of events. Americans like being on top.

As much as the US likes being on top, I don't know how keen they (we) are about suicide. China is a nuclear power. There is no such thing as winning a shooting war against a nuclear power. The best you can hope for is that neither side starts losing so badly that they feel the need use their strategic weapons to prevent defeat.

 

[Jezzy54]

God, I hope not. America may not be perfect, but the Chinese government is run by douchebags.

 

[Tetranitrophenol]

If things keep going the way they are, by 2016 China's economy will be larger than that of the US

 

[Vault Citizen]

I think in order to replace America as the dominant global power a country would have to do more than economically outshine it, it would also have to become stronger than it in terms of military and political power. Until the reaction of another country to an international crisis becomes more relevant than the reaction of America it will stay on top.

 

[Staskala]

germany doesn't have the population to take over anything. They have about 81 million people. One of the big reasons that the US suceeded against them in WW1 and WW2 was that we had so many people that the vast military advantage was rendered mute and we were able to catch up while they eventually ran out of quality people to fight. And let's not mention the double edged sword of not having a real military right now. military wise we'd crush anyone but china, eventually they'd just out people us. I don't know about the US though we haven't fought a real war since vietnam. we cant even get Iraq under control and their best weapons are bombs they bury under the ground. Nuclear war is out of the question unless we wanted a no win for anyone situation, if we press the button they press the button and we all get destroyed no cake for anyone. I'd stick with either the US or china based on economies, population and general patriotism and zeal.

What do you mean with "doesn't have a real military"? It's the 2nd or 3rd largest military in Europe, depending on your priorities.
By the way, why are talking like Germany even wants to take over anything? Us starting a war? What utter nonsense.

 

[wilsontheterrible]

China might become a larger economy but it will likely never have the geopolitical sway of the U.S. And even their economy is a little shakey. Right now it's entierly based on absurdly cheap labor. If they start getting a middle class or, God forbid, unions the Chinese economy would go down really hard really fast.

The U.S has to sort its crap out but it has the most productive labor force on the planet (thats actually a fact from the U.N, go ahead and look it up), an absurd amount of natural resources, a solid agricultural model, and it stands the best chance of being able to sustain it's energy consumption once we hit peak oil. It'll be ugly, thats not even a question, but between the coal, natural gas, and uranium depsits we'll be able to weather that storm a hell of a lot better than mineral deprived east asia.

Actually, come to think about it. Anybody want to bet as to when China and India start duking it out over mining and land rights? Their populations are expanding rapidly and neither was particularly well endowed with land, mineral wealth, or fossil fuels. Asia's going to get ugly in about 20 years.

 

[Varanfan9]

I doubt it. While China's economic system is fine now Communism usually fails in the long run. Its good for a while but then falls short. By 2050 China's economy will probably have gone bad unless they switched to a different economic system.

 

[Comrade_Beric]

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To those saying "China may have the economy but they don't have the military" I wish to reply to you in two ways. First, that the US is going to have to downsize its own military assets if it doesn't want to bankrupt itself the way the USSR did in the 80s. Second, China already has a massive army and air force. They are only a decent navy away from being a superpower as it is and if their economic growth continues to keep the pace its at now, it will be barely a decade before they can afford one.