China: Will the 20th Century Giant Become a 21st Century Superpower

摘要

While the superpower of the world are reducing their nuclear arsenal China is quietly enhancing its already formidable nuclear and conventional military capability. With the world's largest population of over a billion people China already enjoys the status of a giant on the international scene. Yet it is not regarded as superpower because of its inability to influence world events. The country's tumultuous political history from the time of the communist revolution shows how changes in leadership leads to changes in policy and, at times, is detrimental to the country's progress. Its relations with the United States have improved in the last two decades but are still not warm enough. Recent overtures made to it by the Soviet Union have yielded some results but are also far from desirable.