The Fateful Flaws in China’s Attempt to Become a World Power

The two main political parties in the United States do not agree on everything, despite widespread belief to the contrary. Both major political parties agree that China is the United States’ greatest global competitor.

In 2018, the Trump administration announced a new national defense policy, which said that China “seeks Indo-Pacific regional hegemony in the near-term and displacement of the United States to achieve global preeminence in the future.” This conclusion has been the primary focus of US military preparation.

To rephrase, China’s capital wants to rival and eventually exceed the United States as a worldwide powerhouse.

There is no longer any novelty about this. China’s leadership has been vocal about its ambitions to become the preeminent economic and military force in the Western Pacific for years.

When Beijing started acting more assertively, however, the international community started pushing back. Furthermore, Beijing’s intentions have been hampered by lingering inconsistencies in Chinese internal policy. China’s rise to global preeminence seems more distant. Check the numbers.

Economy. At now, the United States contributes over 25% of global GDP with just 4% of the world’s population. Its 1990 contribution to world wealth was the same as its 1990 contribution today. China accounts for almost 18% of global GDP while having just roughly 20% of the world’s population.