Originally Posted by hamidreza

I think they don't have any dark point in their behavior with other countries and it makes them reliable.

Except that human rights violations in the People's Republic of China remain systematic and widespread.

China WILL become a world superpower within the next 50 years. They have nukes, they have the biggest army and their GDP, oh.... the GDP.....

Originally Posted by Pegasusbank

China WILL become a world superpower within the next 50 years. They have nukes, they have the biggest army and their GDP, oh.... the GDP.....

I doubt it will ever become one. A superpower is a country that achieves dominance in ideas or ideology, an economic system, and military power.

In terms of ideas or ideology, the Chinese are probably more confused than anyone else in the world. In today’s China where money is king, people have become disillusioned with any notion of ideals. There has been serious moral decay in society.

Economically, China’s achievements are indeed impressive. In the past 30 years, China has sustained nearly double-digit growth. However, we need to keep in mind that China started from a very low level of GDP. Much of its growth comes from heavy investment in infrastructure. In 2009, China’s per capita GDP was only about $3,600, compared with $46,000 in the United States. Among the world’s top-10 largest companies, the United States claims five, and China has none. I believe that China’s economy will continue to grow rapidly over the next 10 to 15 years. After that, it will slow down when its per capita income approaches $10,000. That will make China’s economy close to the size of the U. S. economy.

Militarily, China’s military spending is only a fraction of what the U. S. spends. Until recently, China did not have a foreign policy or a global strategy. Even its current foreign policies are almost exclusively commercially-focused.

I think China’s influence in Asia will be limited. Who is China’s ally? Singapore? North Korea? India will be more likely allied with the U. S. than with China, and we know Japan’s position. However, China will be a major economic power. It will probably be the second most important country in the world after the United States on many critical international issues.

By all measures, China is not a superpower. With other major economies such as India and Russia on the rise, it is hard to see China ever becoming a superpower.

The main China's supremacy is their soft power which is based on the amount of positive vision and the reliability that people of the other countries have about them. Based on one BBC poll from 22 countries, more than 50% of world's people had a positive view about China and known them as a reliable country while about the US this statistic was less than 38%. The ME or even The South America are good examples.

Originally Posted by Der Alte

After the fall of the iron curtain German pilots trained with western pilots against F-15, F-16 and F-18s. Those exercises showed that the MiG-29 was superior in a dog fight. Big part of this dog fight superiority was due to the fact that the German pilots had many hours behind them as fighter pilots, often 3-4 times as many as their opponents. But in larger scale exercises (many aircraft on both sides) western tactics & command & control of air war were proven to be much better and kill-ratio turned against MiGs.

In one-on-one duel they were superior- I don’t remember exactly what the kill-ratio was, but it was at least 1:3 or even more.

That superiority was short lived. It was because the pilots of the MiG-29 had the Helmet mounted display.

Originally Posted by hamidreza

So you cant trust to F-35 because it hasn't been tested in a real battle.

It's not about trust. It's about reality. History is full of magnificent weapons that turned out worthless in battle.

That's why western powers rely heavily on near realistic programs as Top Gun or Red Flag.

Originally Posted by Der Alte

I think China’s influence in Asia will be limited. Who is China’s ally? Singapore? North Korea? India will be more likely allied with the U. S. than with China, and we know Japan’s position. However, China will be a major economic power. It will probably be the second most important country in the world after the United States on many critical international issues.

By all measures, China is not a superpower. With other major economies such as India and Russia on the rise, it is hard to see China ever becoming a superpower.

India and China have been a breath away from attacking one and other for a while now.
Border disputes mostly, as well as China being the main ally of Pakistan.

Originally Posted by hamidreza

And the last thing, Russia has the largest nukes stockpile even more than US. I think if they blow up their nukes in their land, the whole of the world will be destroyed.

agreed about the world being destroyed thing, but i know of a quote between a certian russian leader (at the moment, cant remember which one) directed at JFK " the United states has enough Nuclear weapons to blow up russia twice, while russia has only enough to destroy the USA only once" not sure how accurate that is, but which country is larger?

Originally Posted by r.fox

agreed about the world being destroyed thing, but i know of a quote between a certian russian leader (at the moment, cant remember which one) directed at JFK " the United states has enough Nuclear weapons to blow up russia twice, while russia has only enough to destroy the USA only once" not sure how accurate that is, but which country is larger?

In terms of land space? Russia is by far larger than U.S. U.S is third behind Canada when it comes to total area.

I live in a country run by lawyers, and as far as I am concerned.


"[Lawyers] are like nuclear warheads. They have theirs, so I have mine.
Once you use them, they f#$& up everything."

So who knows?