'China will be 2nd most powerful nation by 2050'

[Hafizzz]

No, having alot of money does not = powerful

China has the 2nd biggest economy, but isn't the 2nd most powerful,

LOL. You can get Power with money !!!

 

[Dr Lakhani]

I can be deemed that China is already the 2nd most powerful nation in the planet. Just look at the FR China holds in US $ which amounts to trillions. Then take its defence budget which is officially $70bn but in reality more like over $100bn already the 2nd highest in the world. Together with the fact that it is the fastest growing major economy in the world it would not surprise me if China takes over the USA by 2040 at the latest to be no1

 

[Merilion]

In many ways, China is the world's second most powerful country. And if you factor in the advantages that a rising power has against one which has already seen its best days, perhaps China is the most important country.

However, what one has got to respect and admire is the innate Chinese sense of humility. There is no chest thumping going on, either at the governmental level, or even by our Chinese friends participating on this forum. They keep pointing to areas where they are behind the west, and never focus excessively on their amazing accomplishments.

I find the Chinese national character - with this wonderful expression of humility - to be in sharp contrast to many of the more arrogant powers we have seen in the recent past. Kudos to China for being possibly the greatest nation on earth, and being humble at the same time.

We know we still have a long way to go but thanks bro for your nice words on Chinese people.
most Chinese people like to keep a low profile and be humble, this is great but it too has a big drawback--you dont see many oversea Chinese people holding upper management level positions...

 

[anon45]

In many ways, China is the world's second most powerful country. And if you factor in the advantages that a rising power has against one which has already seen its best days, perhaps China is the most important country.

However, what one has got to respect and admire is the innate Chinese sense of humility. There is no chest thumping going on, either at the governmental level, or even by our Chinese friends participating on this forum. They keep pointing to areas where they are behind the west, and never focus excessively on their amazing accomplishments.

I find the Chinese national character - with this wonderful expression of humility - to be in sharp contrast to many of the more arrogant powers we have seen in the recent past. Kudos to China for being possibly the greatest nation on earth, and being humble at the same time.

Had a long refutation of this but ill shorten it to, you're delusional if you think there is no chest thumping here.

Most of the nations in the region aren't being pushed to the US by the Chinese government's Humility.

The govt is certainly not humble with its actions.

Their diplomacy has also been lacking of late, they need to reign in their diplomats from saying things like in this China-Japan Spat and Asia-Pacific Region’s 21st Century

even if this jingoism is popular with their own people it only hurts their goals of a region looking to them for security and stability.

 

[naumananjum]

what about now??
isnt chine 2nd most power full already??

 

[Hasbara Buster]

So, the U.S. will still be the dominant superpower in 2050? That would be terribly disappointing. At least they will lose much of their current hegemony, which is good for world peace.

Even if one is the most powerful one cannot just go around dictating what one wants.

Currently, the US is dictating what they want because, as of yet, emerging powers are far too weak. I don't mind if the US will remain the "most powerful" country in 2050 - as long as other nations can act more independently and there is a genuine balance of power. No nation should have the ability to completely disregard and violate all International agreements and rules (which is what the US has been doing for decades) while forcing other countries to abide by those same rules. Also, those rules are usually serving western interests.

 

[Avatar]

I find it hard to believe US will still remain the most powerful nation in 2050. I feel that this article is a clever move by China, intended to ease USA over the rise of China and it's intentions. At this pace, by 2050 China will surely be the most powerful economy and India would be at #2. According to IMF projections US economy will be significantly lower in comparison, although much bigger than today. That means India and China would have much bigger defense budgets than US making them extremely powerful forces.

 

[Hasbara Buster]

I find it hard to believe US will still remain the most powerful nation in 2050. I feel that this article is a clever move by China, intended to ease USA over the rise of China and it's intentions. At this pace, by 2050 China will surely be the most powerful economy and India would be at #2. According to IMF projections US economy will be significantly lower in comparison, although much bigger than today. That means India and China would have much bigger defense budgets than US making them extremely powerful forces.

And let's not forget that other (smaller) rising powers will also help change the current world order. Brazil, Russia, Turkey, Indonesia and so on. It's not only about China and India.

 

[gpit]

Sure you can't pick up random countries and compare, but in the case of East Asian countries with similar cultural background and similar development model, such comparisons can be meaningful. Besides GDP, we can also look at

Olympics
Japan 1964
S.Korea 1980
China 2008

World Expo
Japan 1970
S.Korea 1993
China 2010

Beginning of High-Speed Rail construction
Japan 1960s
S.Korea 1990s
China 2000s

Beginning of pop culture influence
Japan 1970s-1980s
Hong Kong 1980s-1990s (golden age of HK cinema)
S.Korea 1990s-2000s (Korean wave)

and many more. All fall in roughly same timeline.

In fact comparisons with Japan, S.Korea and Taiwan in similar stage of development feature prominently in popular and academic discussions in China. I remember when Beijing and Shanghai won the rights to 2008 Olympics and 2010 World Expo respectively, there were some excitement in Chinese press about it only taking China 2 years to go from Olympics to Expo while took Japan 6 years.

LOL!

What about nuclear bomb:
China 1964
Japan ?
S Korea?

 

[readonly]

And let's not forget that other (smaller) rising powers will also help change the current world order. Brazil, Russia, Turkey, Indonesia and so on. It's not only about China and India.

Yep, it's all the BRIC countries and the others you mentioned.

 

[below_freezing]

This article is well designed to dispel fears. It makes us lose nothing to say we'll be weaker, and to come out stronger, and it reduces the alertness of the US public despite their lack of power.

 

[siegecrossbow]

I don't know why so many people care about the title of "second most powerful nation". What could China gain by getting such a title. Let me give an example from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Yuan Shu, one of the war lords, found the Imperial Jade Seal and immediately declared himself emperor because he thought that gaining the seal gave him legitimacy. What happened next? He became a target for all the other war lords. The Imperial Jade seal was just a piece of rock and doesn't grant you any special abilities! The title of 2nd most powerful nation, in my opinion, is even worse than that. At least you could pawn the jade for a couple million dollars. What can you do with a title?

 

[no_name]

Cao Cao was far more clever. He 'welcomed' the young emperor and pledged to serve for him.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Cao Cao was far more clever. He 'welcomed' the young emperor and pledged to serve for him.

...This is why you see Wen Jiabao vehemently denying the fact that China is a superpower. If you given orders like and Emperor and live like an Emperor, do you really need to be called an Emperor too?

 

[Water Car Engineer]

In pure 1 on 1 combat, it seems highly doubtful that any other nation has a chance of besting China.

Bro, in a conventional war. America can pretty much best any country.