이벤트

By the mid 20th century the empires of old had disintegrated in the wake of the World Wars and aligned with the two major players, the U.S. and U.S.S.R., whose conquests were accomplished through economic sway and military strength demonstrated via proxy wars. The end of the Cold War around 1989/1990 saw the U.S. as the only key world power,  maintaining the pattern of a financial, military and technological dominance.
China’s ascension to becoming a global power has been rapid and because they are nearing the level of influence the U.S. has enjoyed for so long many are expecting the People’s Republic to fall into the mold of the super powers of old. However there are a number of points which make it unlikely for China to become a super power like we are accustomed to.

Firstly China’s huge population of 1.2 billion people and rapid process of change seriously threatens to overstretch their government. As a result interests in foreign nations and major changes in international policy are unlikely to come any time soon as China will simply be too busy watching their own country to worry about others. If only for this reason alone it is unlikely that China will replace the U.S. in the top spot.

Furthermore China’s key interests are modernization, political stability and the nation’s unity, all of which directs them towards being an inward looking power. Military and economic policy will always be directed towards internal stability. One of the ways to maintain this stability is to maintain an economical growth rate of 10 percent each year, which will also force China to be the first “green” power unless it risks quickly reaching its ceiling of opportunity too quickly.

Simply put China is a unique case and therefore we cannot expect it to become a carbon copy of the super powers of old. China will be focused on its own backyard in order to keep such a large and powerful country together. Therefore rather than seeing the U.S. as an enemy to be squashed they will be regarded as an asset to aid the new Chinese super power in maintaining stability. Welcome to the new age of super powers.