China, The World's Next Superpower?

Yes, I think China will be the next world superpower. India, a country in the same region, with a similar population, is a good measuring stick.

India seems to be the retarded twin of China. In almost all measures, China excels where India fails miserably. In health and sanitation, crime and safety, innovation and technology India lags behind China. The graph to superpower-hood is not hard to plot.

But the most telling is in the attitudes of the two peoples. One could not imagine the leader of China publicly saying that the Chinese were ashamed of being born Chinese, but the Indian Prime Minister admitted that Indians are ashamed of being born Indian.

That attitude alone explains why China is on the verge of becoming a world superpower and India still has almost half a million people defecating in the streets every day.

I'm betting against it. Their one child policy is going to bite them in the ass HARD when it comes to healthcare costs while environmentally the whole country is going to complete sh*t. They will have to grapple with a lot of the problems the US slammed into in the late 20th century, but on a much more massive scale. 

The population demographics of European countries also effectively bars any of them from achieving superpower status, especially given the limitations on land they actually control. 

My money long term is on Canada of all places. If global warming really picks up, they are arguably in the best position for it as land becomes more fertile/arable and melting ice sheets unveil new access to natural resources buried underground. They recently overtook the US as having the healthiest middle class of any country, and as long as they dont go too far to the left with their policies they could certainly achieve powerful status by the end of the century (though they will still be borderline irrelevant for at least another 20 years) 

I think China's capacity as a world superpower is largely overrated. While they do have potential, it does seem as if their recent growth has been backfiring and has been met with certain deeper-rooted problems.

For instance,

- Chinese "mercantilism" is facing backlash at the onslaught of populism in the industrialized world. Initiating with Trump, I expect to see more trade restrictions.

- Resistance to Chinese influence has risen in some areas, with tensions recently rising in Africa.

- If Russia is to improve its relations with the western world, it's possible to see "Sino-Soviet split 2.0." With this in mind, China is left without a strong ally.

- China's internal problems from its aging population, human rights abuses, environmental degradation, etc, are fundamental issues that need to be addressed.