China?

Today in my Politics of China, Russia, and India class the professor asked us to predict when China would become a leader in both global economy and politics. Many people said between 10-25 years from now (2009) that China would become a economic giant, while the predictions for it becoming a political giant were between 20-70 years. A few people also argued that China would never become a political giant or leader because of their Communist system and the closed system it maintains currently.

This is a very interesting as well as scary prospective to us as Americans. We like to think that we will forever be the top dog in the global world, but as countries such as China continue to grow in power, this is becoming less and less true. In the last 10-20 years I feel like we are becoming less and less influential throughout the globe and while we still hold some power and influence it lessens every year. Having said this I do not believe that we will ever not be among the top nations/powers until our nation completely falls. We will just have to share our power and will have to learn to work with others.

In the next 10,20,30, or 40 years I don't think that one major power will emerge but there will be multiple groups of nations. We have already seen this in Europe the E.U, as well as emerging groups in Africa, South America, and Asia. So that many nations (within the group) not just one nation will hold the power. This seems like an impossible goal to accomplish especially with continents such as Africa which are so different economically, politically, and ethnically but I think that when other groups emerge it will put the necessary pressure on countries to unite themselves. This will probably make the world a more peaceful place but may also cause another cold war scenario among 5 different groups and not just two.