It is a fact that today China is the fourth-largest economy in the world but has the possibility of reaching the top position within 40 years. Nevertheless, the reason China will be number one is because of its population. According to my, this means that China will be highly self-sufficient. It will not only be able to take proper care of its needs, like food and energy, but also will help to stabilize world prices. I also think that when China becomes number one, its steady economic growth will help the economies of the other nations of the world to stabilize too. I agree with Andrew Nathan that this will not only repose China politically but also will also stop refugees, trans-border criminal activities, and health issues from spreading into other nations from China.
China will not be a leader in terms of technology, and studies have shown that even then, China will be relatively poor compared to other larger economic nations, like the USA. Although I feel that China will not be able to rise above nations with high technologies and military dominance, its prosperity will surely depend on the economic growth of other rival nations, like the USA and Japan. I do believe that Andrew Nathan is trying to say that we are indeed heading for a multi-polar world. This would be a world where there would be no single nation to call all the shots. Even after China becomes number one, it will not be completely dominant without the help of other nations. Moreover, I think that nations like the USA and Japan will maintain their technological and military supremacy even then, but China will certainly have the world’s largest economy.