why are people talking of china as if its the next superpower. as if the US has its days numbered what with the financial crisis. and as if its already a bipolar world with china waving as it peacefully rises looking at US go down. incidentally, someone in office cited the chinese opinion on china's peaceful rise with an example of a china man/woman hitting you on the head chanting "china's peaceful rise" if you objected to giving the rise its credit.

what i don't understand is, firstly where do i see signs of the end of the superpower US. so what if theres a bout of recession. secondly, do we forget that no country has ever risen or will rise without substantial global support at least in the beginning? where are china's friends? a meagre pakistan who has become a poor relative begging for assitance or bangladesh and maybe sri lanka? those who can't look beyond their own boundaries because of their internal problems. how can a country be on its way to superpowerdom when global opinion doesnt trust it enough to grant it market economy status as yet? will china be able to gain people on its side with bilaterals? when india and the US both refuse? i am not saying that india matters a lot because its a power itself (for those who love to claim that we indians get happy with lil titbits of acheivements given as alms). but what is important is that india is a regional power in the neighborhood at least and the US is what it is. where is china heading gathering everyone's mistrust as it goes along?