There are ongoing discussions that will the US maintain the lead or China take over the lead
as a new superpower in the global power structure? Undoubtedly, China has already turned
into the global economic powerhouse and is predicted to surpass the United States as the
world’s largest economy by 2028. In recent years, China has emerged strongly as a global
economic power and this narrative has pushed forward considerably due to the COVID-19
pandemic as well as poor policies from the US and NATO. China is still far behind but on its
track to surpassing the US in economic as well as a military power with greater expenditure
on its latest secretive weapons technology.

The UK-based CEBR (Centre for Economics and Business Research) demonstrated China’s
extremely powerful management of COVID-19 would boost its relative growth compared to
the Europe and United States in coming years. The report shows that after post-pandemic
period in 2021, the US economy from 2022-24 will grow by almost 1.9% annually and then
slow down further to about 1.6% in the years after that. By contrast, the Chinese economy
until 2025 will grow by almost 5.7% annually, and then 4.5% annually from 2026-2030.

It is clear that China is moving towards strengthening its military and economic superiority
over the US sooner than later, but still, the question is, will the Communist Party-led China
become a complete superpower as the United States has been over the last eight decades?
The recent COVID-19 pandemic seems to more strengthen the notion that China is quickly
leading towards replacing the United States as the world’s premier economic superpower.
Undoubtedly, China is currently playing almost same powerful role in the world economy as
the United States. China has supported and defended an authoritarian model for continuous
economic growth, constructed a military base in Djibouti, and also developed artificial
islands in the South China Sea. It has the Belt and Road Initiative, which is China’s global
lending program. China is also spreading its economic and political influence into Latin
America and Africa.

However, just like the Soviet Union in the past, China is currently facing various cultural and
geopolitical challenges before it can achieve global superpower status similar to the United
States. There is no doubt that China can’t be able to attain the same level of acceptance and
respect worldwide, even if its military and economic power overtake the United States. It is
clear that the democratic US will always have political, ideological, and cultural supremacy
compared to Communist China.