Poonte bro, Great comments/freedback. but China, as I see it, is definitely on the path towards becoming as powerful, if not more, as the US, call it becoming a superpower or else. And, as I said earlier, the rivals can be apprehensive about China's growth, but they can do little to stop it. Slow it down a bit, they may. Then let me ask you one question here: Does becoming a superpower involve/include becoming a hegemon? Neo-realists say, yes it does. Look at Russia and America (Russia controlled East Europe, America controlled the rest of the world. Now, who is China going to control and don't you think that by the time China reaches it's peak, America and Russia will be way ahead of China, making China constantly aware of its lack of defense technology? ) And China's lack of interest in this regard, i.e., hegemony is quite noteworthy. Also the whole world, including China now subscribes to the American dominated market ideology which is diffefrent than the cold war, where the world was divided into 2 blocs. Maybe, China will be the only benevolent superpower in the history of international system and will be promoting liberalism and free trade all over, but this will only make teh America's job easier, hoina? Tyasaile, I personally think that, if the situation remains the way it is now, China will definatley become a major economic power just like Japan and the US, but to become a superpower +hegemon, it still has a long way to go.