Following Western models must end, China must become powerful, happy and environmentally friendly, and ideas must be formally inscribed in the official charter of the Communist Party. All these postulates were proclaimed at the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CCP), which closed the day before. I figured out what goals one of the most powerful powers in the world has set for itself and how it plans to rebuild the world.

Mao, Dan, Xi

"Xi Jinping's ideas of a new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics" - it is the intentions of the current general secretary, enshrined in the party charter, that should become the leading and guiding line for China in the future.

The official canonization of the plans of the Secretary General has become an unprecedented thing. In just five years in office, Xi put forward his own "leading ideas" and had them named after him. In addition to Xi's ideas, the Communist Party's theoretical arsenal includes Marxism-Leninism, the ideas of Mao Zedong - the founder of the modern Chinese state - and the theory of Deng Xiaoping, who modernized the country.

The main feature of the "ideas of Xi Jinping" is not that they received the name of the party leader, which is now inscribed in the charter after Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. The intentions of the current general secretary correspond to them in scope and breadth, which distinguishes them from Jiang Zemin's more narrow and particular "ideas of the triple representation" and "scientific view of development". "Xi Ideas" has absorbed many political concepts and slogans put forward by the Chinese leader over the past five years, which will determine the fate of the country in the future.

Other visible evidence of Xi's personal power also emerged. Under informal rules, China's leadership changes once every ten years. And five years before the change of power, the successors of the top leaders - the general secretary and the prime minister - are introduced to the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee.

This time, there was nothing like that: there is not a single person in the Standing Committee whose age would allow him to claim the role of Xi Jinping's successor. Many experts believe that the current secretary general, thanks to the unprecedented strengthening of his own power, may violate informal rules and, contrary to custom, remain for a third term - until 2027.

Even if this does not happen, and within the next five years the current leader has a recognized successor, Xi's informal influence on Chinese politics in the 2020s will remain very large.

Unnecessary wind from the West

Today, the Chinese leadership understands that the country has become strong both economically (China's success in this area supports the development of the world economy as a whole) and in the military sphere. Beijing is actively promoting its own model of international relations based on equality, rejection of ideological and geopolitical confrontation, and recognition of common interests.

For decades, China has actively studied and adopted the achievements of other countries. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Chinese intelligentsia worshiped Western science and democracy; in its second half, the Chinese communists copied the Soviet model, and then successfully overcame its shortcomings, turning to the development of a market economy and globalization during the years of reforms.

Western experts were sure that the market and prosperity would inevitably lead China to abandon the one-party system and move to the Western model, but this did not happen.

The prophecies of China's imminent collapse due to the abandonment of economic freedoms and the return to Leninism as a rigid form of political control have not yet been confirmed. The strengthening of the political vertical has in no way harmed the market freedoms valued by the Chinese; on the contrary, these freedoms are steadily expanding and receiving legal formalization.

In this light, the most remarkable post-Congress personnel decision was the appointment of Wang Juning to the Politburo Standing Committee. Until the mid-1990s, he was an influential political scientist working on international relations at Fudan University in Shanghai. In 1995, he headed the Policy Study Cabinet of the CPC Central Committee, after which he turned into an enigmatic non-public figure of a shadowy political adviser.

Superpower in the East

“A new era is dawning when our country is moving closer to the center of the world stage every day, continuously making more and more significant contributions to the affairs of mankind,” Xi Jinping announced during his speech, setting the goal of making China a powerful world power from the party and government. The key is in the details of the wording. At the last 18th Congress, the goal was to build "a strong, rich, democratic, civilized, harmonious, modernized socialist state."

Now at the end, instead of the word “state”, the word “state” appeared, in the literal meaning of the hieroglyphs included in it - “strong state”. The repetition of the hieroglyph "strength" is unlikely to have happened through an oversight - this reflects the awareness of the change of eras in China's development.

The ancient book "Li Ji" contains a description of the movement of the Celestial Empire from prosperity in antiquity to decline. At first, people lived in an ideal society of "great unity" (datong), when "the Celestial Empire belonged to everyone." At that time, all people treated others as if they were family; they did not accumulate good; leaving the house, do not lock the doors. Such was the ancient Chinese dream of a utopian egalitarian system where there is no private property and everything belongs to everyone.

Then the "great path faded", and the Celestial Empire became the property of individual families. People began to love only their relatives and children, “they kept things and forces for themselves”, they got property, which they surrounded with fences. In order to streamline relations between people, rituals and ethics were created, which laid the foundations for hierarchical moral relations between the ruler and subjects, parents and children, older and younger brothers, and spouses. This is the stage of “small prosperity” or “small calmness” (the kan sign allows both translations): society has ceased to be a monolithic whole, property has been divided among people, but ethical restrictions keep people from unworthy acts.

At the end of the 19th century, Chinese reformers explained this scheme in the spirit of utopian socialism, setting the task of practically building a society of "great unity", the path to which lies through "small prosperity". In modern China, the Communist Party initially interpreted it in terms of material wealth and per capita income.

Mao Zedong helped the country get on its feet and achieve independence. and his successors made China rich. Now it's Xi Jinping's turn: he is destined to make China a powerful global player, in no way inferior to other leading countries. He understands that China cannot achieve this by copying Western designs.

The thesis about "creating a community of the fate of mankind" is addressed to the world around. It is associated with the “Chinese dream” slogan that Xi Jinping proclaimed immediately after coming to power in 2012.

The official interpretation presented at the congress says that the dream of the Chinese people is closely connected with the dreams of the peoples of all countries, and the realization of the "Chinese dream" is possible only in a peaceful situation on the planet and with a stable world order.

China promises to keep advancing on the path of peace and development, openly adhere to the principle of benefit, reject ideological strife, and practice the correct view of benefit and justice. Beijing wants to promote the cooperation of civilizations, take care of the environment, build world peace and preserve the existing international order.

Wealth within

In addition to foreign policy influence, an important role is given to the well-being of ordinary Chinese. At the convention, it was confirmed that by 2020 the country will have built a "small prosperity society", and there will be no poor people living in China living on less than $1.17 a day.

From 2020 to 2035, it is supposed to "carry out basic socialist modernization." From 2035 to the middle of the century, on the centenary of the founding of the PRC, it is promised to build a "strong modernized power."

"Xi Ideas" in domestic politics calls for the development of democratic mechanisms and governing the country on the basis of law, strengthening the socialist value system and inheriting the Chinese cultural tradition, developing social security, and solving environmental problems.

They demand to adhere to a "comprehensive view of the security of the state", uphold the principle of absolute party leadership in the army, seek the reunification of the motherland and oppose any activity aimed at splitting the state. "Ideas" also indicate the need for strict management of the party, the fight against corruption and decay.

Unbending Comrade Xi

Xi Jinping has a five-year period of major holidays ahead: in 2018, China will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the start of the policy of reform and opening up, which was proclaimed by Deng Xiaoping. For the current leader, this is a good opportunity to declare himself as a successor to the work of the "architect of reforms."

In 2019, it will be time to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC. The round anniversary of the republic is notable for the fact that on this occasion a military parade is held in Beijing and foreign guests are invited. This is another good reason to increase the influence of the country and its leader.

In 2020, the year for which a "small prosperous society" is to be built, Xi Jinping will have a legitimate opportunity to claim that the decisive contribution to this success was made under his leadership - in the period after 2012.

In 2021, Xi Jinping will lead the celebration of the centenary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. This anniversary will be politically saturated and brightly colored ideologically, because the party will be able to tell the country and the world about the unprecedented successes achieved under its leadership over a long period of time, starting from the revolutionary struggle and victory in the civil war against the Kuomintang.

And after this uninterrupted chain of holidays that will help to strengthen Xi's power, the time will quietly come for the 2022 CCP 20th Congress to be held in the fall. In keeping with the old tradition, Xi will have to retire due to age.

However, his authority and influence had reached such heights by that time that one could expect a departure from tradition - either by extending his powers for a third term, or, more likely, by dividing power posts and powers between Xi and a successor for a transitional period.

Xi Jinping's efforts to realize the "Chinese dream" and turn China into the most influential power in the modern world set the vector of Chinese policy for several decades to come. The order without ideological and geopolitical confrontation offered to the world by Beijing has a chance to gain a large number of supporters and eventually become generally recognized.

As the nationalist calls for war subside, it is clear that the anti-Japanese demonstrations across China were relatively tame. Chinese authorities have maintained tight control over the protesters, some of whom are calling for a military response from Japan over the disputed islands in the East China Sea: plastic bottles are allowed to be thrown, glass bottles are asked to refrain. For all the jingoistic talk, the processions were for the most part free from violence. China will lose more than it will gain in the event of a war. Yet the country's conflicts with Japan and other Asian neighbors serve as a reminder of the potential threats that China's rise to global power brings with it.

According to Arvind Subramanian of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, China has already surpassed the United States as the world's largest economic power in terms of GDP. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund suggest that this is likely still a few years away, but whatever the case, China has at least the second largest economy in the world, as well as the second largest military budget. However, some policy makers in the United States and several other countries fear that China is a "precocious superpower", too underdeveloped and unstable to make responsible decisions. According to this line of thinking, an increasingly assertive China will use its influence to support repressive regimes for its own selfish interests, threaten war, pursue a policy of ruining its neighbor (beggar-thy-neighbor - shifting domestic economic problems to other countries by devaluing its currency , protectionism, etc.; site note) and ignore issues of planetary importance, for example, environmental protection and health.

There are grounds for concern about the approaching Chinese century. The country has a lousy human rights record, both at home and abroad. Less than a quarter of a century has passed since the government opened fire on unarmed civilians in the heart of the country's capital, and only 50 years after the so-called Great Leap Forward of the Communist Party, which claimed tens of millions of lives. Dissidents are still regularly imprisoned or missing. China has helped block international backlash against the murderous regimes of Bashar al-Assad in Syria and Omar al-Bashir in Sudan, while supporting the North Korean kleptocracy that has plunged their country into famine.

Despite such acts, there is little reason to believe that China's role in the world will be destabilizing. To understand why, it would be instructive to compare China in 2012 with a country that was also on the cusp of superpower status a hundred years ago: the United States.

By 1918, the United States was undeniably one of the most powerful states in the world. In the first two decades of the 20th century, the United States occupied Cuba, the Philippines, Haiti, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, the Panama Canal Zone, and Puerto Rico, and sent troops to fight in Mexico, Western Europe, and Russia. Their late entry into World War I was a decisive factor in Germany's defeat. America ended the war with the highest per capita income in the world. By 1929, its military spending accounted for 20 percent of the world's.

How does this compare to modern China? And what does it say about the possible behavior of the world's youngest superpower? The US was far more democratic in 1918, at the dawn of its world economic dominance, than China is today. As a superpower, America has been (for the most part) a stabilizing force on the international stage. And yet, the relationship between the level of democracy in a country and its propensity to start wars is negligible - as the history of both China and the United States shows. The short-lived Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979 was the last international military conflict initiated by China - and it did not even lead to a change in borders. Compare this to the long list of American interventions before 1918; it is hard to argue that the young superpowers are more peaceful just because they are democracies, or more inclined to start wars if they are not.

Today's China is more woven into the international system than any former superpower, including the United States. In 1918, American merchandise exports accounted for 8 percent of GDP. For China in 2010, the same figure was 26 percent; 3 times more. A sign of how well the country is integrated into the global trading system is that 50 percent of these exports were produced in foreign factories. And when it comes to our own investments abroad, China has more than $3 trillion in gold and foreign exchange reserves alone, most of which are securities (a decent part of which are American and European).

In view of China's "entanglement" in the world economy, military spending remained a relatively low priority for the country's leadership. According to the Stockholm Peace Research Institute, China accounts for only about 8 percent of the world's military spending—less than America's in 1929 and five times less than its current share. China is a country that apparently has no claims to world military dominance.

At the same time, the Chinese are at least as educated and affluent as Americans at their respective stages of global influence. These factors should also play their part in softening Chinese manners in the long run. China's GDP per capita surpassed US 1918 levels somewhere around 2006; China today is almost as rich as America was in 1949. According to the US National Center for Educational Statistics in 1920, the average American over the age of 25 had 8.2 years of schooling. According to development economics researchers Robert Barro and Jong-Hwa Lee in China, this figure is the average for people over the age of 15.

In some cases, the Chinese people show themselves to be more cosmopolitan than even today's Americans. When asked if they perceive themselves as global citizens, 84 percent of Chinese agreed with the wording, compared to 69 percent of Americans. When asked who should determine the policy of international peacekeeping, 64 percent of the Chinese preferred the UN to national governments or regional organizations, compared with 53 percent in the US. (Relative support in favor of the UN changes when it comes to dealing with human rights policy issues.) More than 60 percent of China's population is in favor of paying more taxes if they are used to protect their environment. This corresponds to only 50 percent in the modern United States - not to mention 1918, decades before Rachel Carson announced her premonition of spring without birdsong. And almost exactly the same proportion as the Americans - just over four-fifths - sees global warming as a serious problem.

Perhaps a more appropriate superpower analogy for China in 2012 is not the US of 1918, but the former Soviet Union after World War II. This country, like China, was ruled by an undemocratic communist regime. He has stationed gigantic armies on the borders of key US allies in Europe and helped to topple US-friendly regimes from Latin America to Africa and Asia. But in 1950, the USSR had a GDP per capita of $2,840—about a third of current Chinese income. And despite all of Nikita Khrushchev's boastful punches on the table, he never became the equal of the United States economically.

In addition, the Soviet system, whose leadership was committed to the principle of “building socialism in a single country” before the start of the world revolution, was much less integrated into the world economy than China has been for many years. Although China routinely pays verbal tribute to the same communist belief system, this ideology has largely been abandoned by its practical politicians, and the country does not claim to stoke the fire of world revolution. Treating China as the successor to the Soviet Union—an enemy of the West that must be contained by massive military, diplomatic, and economic measures—would be a highly counterproductive and costly mistake.

And yet, China's path to the top will be littered with some pitfalls. China's lack of democracy does not pose a threat, but it should continue to be a constant concern for the US and its allies, as it could cause internal instability or the rise of a more nationalist political class. This is especially disturbing when you are a citizen of a neighboring country interested in the fate of uninhabited islands and the natural wealth resting next to them on the ocean floor.

The United States should, at the very least, continue to pressure Chinese leaders to push for political reform without even counting on success. But whether or not China evolves into a liberal democracy in the coming years, the country, compared to earlier superpowers in similar stages of rise - including America itself - poses minimal threat to global stability. If everyone keeps a clear head, the Chinese century can be a boon for all of us.

Currently China has emerged as the dominant regional power , and its obvious growing aspirations for world power status . According to the forecasts of some experts, after the end of the current global economic crisis, it will no longer be the United States, but China that will claim the role of world hegemon.

Optimists believe that the pace of China's economic development and the scale of foreign investment in China - both among the highest in the world - provide the statistical basis for a favorable forecast that within about two decades, China will become a world power equal to the United States and Europe. By this time, in terms of GDP, China may significantly overtake Japan (in 2010, China's GDP became higher than Japan's GDP). This economic momentum will allow China to acquire military power to the point where it becomes a threat to all of its neighbors, and probably even more geographically distant adversaries.

Strengthening your position even more thanks to the accession of Hong Kong and Macau and possibly in the near future political subjugation of Taiwan , Greater China will become not only the dominant state of the Far East, but also a world power of the first rank. The total assets of the top 500 Chinese-owned companies in Southeast Asia already amount to about $540 billion.

Overseas Chinese control about 90% of the Indonesian economy, 75% of the Thai economy, 50-60% of the Malaysian economy, and also completely control the economies of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. All this testifies to China's "economic intervention" in the region, which could result in the creation of "puppet governments" supported by China.

However, pessimists believe that it is impossible to use so unequivocally in the forecasts of political development the mechanical dependence on statistical analysis . It was this mistake that was made many years ago by those who predicted that Japan would overtake the United States as the world's leading economic power and that it was destined to become the new geopolitical superpower. It is known that this forecast did not come true, because the factors of Japan's economic vulnerability from the influx of foreign capital and markets, as well as the lack of continuity in political development, were not taken into account.

Pessimists point to a number of factors that will an obstacle to China's transformation into a world superpower.

Firstly, it will be difficult for the PRC to sustain its rapid growth over the next two decades. To maintain this pace for a historically long period of time it will require an unusually successful combination of effective national leadership, political stability, social discipline at home, high levels of savings, continued very high levels of foreign investment, and regional stability . Nothing can guarantee that China will maintain all these positive factors for a long time.

Secondly, real a problem for China may be the question of new sources of raw materials and energy . China's energy consumption is growing at such a rate that it already far exceeds the capacity of domestic production. This gap may widen if China's economic growth rate remains very high.

Finally, another difficulty for China is food problem. Even with the declining demographic growth rate, China's population continues to increase in absolute terms, and therefore food imports are becoming increasingly important for China's internal well-being and political stability. Dependence on imports not only increase the pressure on China's economic resources due to higher prices, but also make it more vulnerable to external pressure.

In addition, the international situation in the Asia-Pacific region as a whole remains unstable. Can name a few the most significant explosive issues, each of which is somehow capable of dragging China into international conflicts :

The Paracel and Spratly Islands in the South China Sea threaten a clash between China and a number of Southeast Asian states over access to potentially valuable seabed energy resources. China, meanwhile, has recently considered the South China Sea as its rightful national property;

The Senkaku Islands are contested by Japan and China, with rivals Taiwan and mainland China vehemently arguing for a consensus on the issue. The historical rivalry for dominance in the region between Japan and China gives this issue also a symbolic meaning;

The division of Korea and the instability inherent in the DPRK, which is gaining
even more dangerous because of its aspirations to become a nuclear power, create the danger that a sudden clash could drag the peninsula into war. In turn, this will involve the United States and, indirectly, Japan and China;

Other latent territorial-ethnic conflicts include Russian-Chinese, Chinese-Vietnamese, Japanese-Korean and Chinese-Indian border issues (ethnic unrest in Xinjiang province, as well as Chinese-Indonesian disagreements over ocean borders).

All these factors suggest the possibility of a stage of political instability in China, what both Chinese and international experts warn about. Some studies even contain conclusions that China may find itself in one of the historical circles of internal fragmentation, which may finally stop its progress towards world power. However, it should be noted that so far the Chinese leadership has been able to quite successfully cope with political and economic difficulties. Already today China is the dominant regional power in East Asia, and only foreign policy factors can prevent its further movement towards world leadership. . In order to stabilize the situation, China seeks to expand its political ties with the US, Russia, Pakistan, Burma and North Korea .

An alliance with Pakistan and a military presence in Burma is necessary for China to create a counterbalance to Indian influence in the region. China's military cooperation with Pakistan is developing quite successfully, and this creates serious security problems for India, limiting its ability to become a leader in South Asia and a geopolitical rival of China. Military contacts with Burma are necessary for China to gain access to military installations on several Burmese offshore islands in the Indian Ocean. This opens up new strategic opportunities for the Chinese in Southeast Asia and especially in the Strait of Malacca. This is about China's desire to control the Straits of Malacca , which would allow him to control Japan's approaches to Middle Eastern oil and European markets.

Interest in the question of Korean unification also has deep political roots. It is obvious that a united Korea will inevitably turn into a zone of American and Japanese influence, and this will deal a strong blow to Beijing's political ambitions. That's why China insists that a unified Korea be a neutral buffer between China and Japan . The fact is that, according to the Chinese calculations, Korea's historical hostility towards Japan will naturally draw Korea into the sphere of Chinese influence. But also the existence of a divided Korea today suits China quite well , therefore, he has consistently advocated the preservation of the North Korean regime.

Similar information.

As China grows richer and stronger, more and more countries around the world are beginning to recognize that the Celestial Empire deserves to be recognized as a great power and show it the respect due to it.

Through a combination of a booming economy, skilful diplomacy and a softening of military rhetoric, China is regaining its former dominance in Asia.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, China became the most likely candidate to counterbalance the US as a superpower.

But is China really ready to go that far and does it want to go that far? And if so, how peaceful will this superpower be?

"There is no doubt to me, at least, that China is gradually moving towards becoming a superpower that will shake the status quo in the world," says Jeffrey Garten, dean of the Yale School of Management in the US.

However, according to Yan Xuetong, director of the International Institute of Beijing Xinhua University, China still has a long way to go.

He says that for the foreseeable future, China will not be able to compete with the United States.

However, Xuetong adds, this does not mean that China likes this state of affairs. After all, every country, he said, wants to become a world leader. "China does not want to recognize American supremacy. So confrontation is inevitable," he says.

It's rare that an economically successful country doesn't have military ambitions, says Gary Milhollin of the American nonprofit Wisconsin Arms Project.

"China can't compete with the US in the military right now," says Milhollin. "However, it's important to remember that American military power is based on the superiority of the American economy. The day China has more money than other countries, it will have and the best military system."

Growing Influence

For about 40 years after the communists came to power, China was considered in Asia as a poor and dangerous country, from which they preferred to stay away.

But now, in the age of the Pacific Ocean, China has abandoned its thoughts of world revolution and is returning to its former role as the head of the Asian family.

China is increasingly playing a defining role in East Asian politics, at the helm of multinational organizations and fueling its economic renaissance.

Japan still retains close ties to the US, but it is increasingly looking to China as a possible market to save its economy from stagnation.

The countries of Southeast Asia, in which immigrants from China are increasingly influential, no longer perceive Japan as a possible regional leader.

"In Southeast Asia, China not only poses an economic challenge, but also poses a certain cultural and, to some extent, military threat," said Kobsak Chutikul, a prominent Taiwanese politician.

"Before taking the fight, the dragon must spew fire," he adds.

However, the Chinese Communist Party is still trying to create a more peaceful image that does not evoke associations with a bloodthirsty dragon.

Recently, the CCP started talking about "peaceful elevation" of the country, but those talks soon stopped. The reason, apparently, was the fears of some leaders of the country that the word "peaceful" could cause discontent in the Chinese army, and the word "elevation" would cause alarm abroad.

In response to a question from the BBC, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said there had indeed been controversy.

Jianchal said that China is the largest regional and world power and will play an increasingly prominent role. But this should be seen as a prospect, not a threat.

He carefully avoided the word "elevation" and, like all officials, reacted painfully to any mention of the word "superpower."

However, if there are superpowers in the world, China will want to be one of them. This view is shared by most analysts.

peaceful intentions

The support of Asian countries significantly reinforces China's claims to world influence. But London School of Economics professor Barry Buzan says other countries need to remain vigilant.

“The Chinese want a calm and smooth development. The question is, will the situation change when they reach their goal?” he says.

According to Professor Buzan, "ultra-nationalism" is brewing under the calm surface of China, and this suggests parallels with pre-war Germany.

Others argue that China is now committed to the same free market principles as the US.

According to the adherents of this view, the greatest threat is the disunity and chaos, which can lead to the flow of refugees and the spread of mass weapons.

China is trying to act as if it is aware of its power, and therefore should not oppose itself to others, - says Hugh Baker of the London School of Asia and Africa.

As an illustration, he cited the following statement characterizing the attitude towards the future superpower: "A gentleman does not fight. But if necessary, he would win."

General characteristics of a superpower

Before considering such a concept as a potential superpower of the world, one should decide on the meaning of a superpower. Its definition will provide a general idea, which will facilitate the understanding of a potential superpower.

Remark 1

A superpower, first of all, is the strongest state, distinguished by its wide potential in various fields, for example, such as scientific and technical, economic, political or cultural.

It is important to note that the powerful influence of such a state extends not only to the territory of one region, but also far beyond its borders. Quite often, such power extends all the way to other parts of the world. Quite often, as a synonym for the term under consideration, the designation as "great power" is used.

The contenders for the place of superpowers are:

• European Union,
• Brazil,
• India,
• Russia.

Let us dwell on the characterization of China as a potential superpower.

China as a potential superpower

Considering the People's Republic of China as a potential superpower, one can notice the rather frequent appearance of this state among the first contenders for the status in question. A number of scientists have already ranked China among the superpowers, namely economic and military.

What can be said about China? First of all, it is distinguished by the size of its population (the largest), it ranks third in terms of the size of its territory. When we talk about the People's Republic of China, we are talking about the country that ranks first in terms of GDP, based on purchasing power parity. Considering nominal GDP, we notice that China is moving to second place, behind the United States.

In addition, the achievements of this state can also be recorded as being among the first both industrial and agrarian states, leadership in terms of agricultural and industrial production. In addition, China is the fastest growing economy. In foreign trade, this state has a positive balance, it accounts for about half of all foreign exchange reserves of the world, while also being the largest exporter.

Due to its possession of strategic nuclear weapons, China can and should be classified among the largest nuclear powers. Along with Russia, this state is characterized by multidisciplinary astronautics, including manned ones.

Remark 2

However, in its development, the People's Republic of China does not stand still. Today, this state is ahead of the United States as the main technology supplier. Thus, it is quite possible to expect China to become both a technological superpower and an innovative one.

A number of scholars note that today the People's Republic of China is a leader in its quest for development and improvement in most areas, thereby becoming truly the most potential superpower. This also makes it the most popular country, characterizing it as an obvious and strong political opponent. Thus, it is likely that in due time, China will be able to overtake the United States, develop the largest economy, provided that the current growth rate is maintained. In many ways, perhaps, the credit crunch was of great help, due to which China had a real opportunity to become a superpower.

By continuing to invest heavily in Latin America or Africa, China can expect to establish its presence as a superpower on the same level as the United States and the European Union. You can also see the growth of the People's Republic of China from the development and increase in the level of trade in GDP. It is worth noting that China has a special style of communication - consultative, which greatly helps in developing not only political, but also economic ties with world powers, including the United States. It should also be noted that not a single undertaking of this state could give just such results if it were not for its current government. Everything was possible thanks to its ability not only to meet the development challenges, but also to address the resulting consequences of the crisis much faster than other countries could cope.

Factors hindering the emergence of China as a full-fledged superpower

However, despite the high popularity and obvious huge potential for China to become a potential superpower, there is another opinion among a number of scientists, according to which the People's Republic of China is not destined to receive the desired status. According to their point of view, special attention should be paid to problems and possible risks. A number of factors are cited to justify this position.

One of these is the geographical position of the country, namely, isolation from the north by Siberia, from the south by the Himalayas and the jungle. Considering that the bulk of the population lives in the eastern side, this circumstance will complicate the expansion of the state.

Another factor is that China has not been a maritime power for many years. The elimination of such an obstacle, namely the construction of a fleet, will require significant time costs.

Despite the significant role of the government in the formation of China, which we see it now, it is worth noting that the political situation is currently not stable. There is an opinion according to which this state appears to be a fragile superpower.

A significant "braking" factor for China is the limited resources, as well as the supply of energy, the reality of the possibility of innovative development, the presence of social inequality, and environmental pollution. One of the important qualities that characterize a superpower is the attractiveness of a particular state for foreign labor. This country should make you want to go there, it is there that you want to work and develop. Unfortunately, China is not so attractive.