What is meant by superpower? In the field of International Relations (IR) it has a specific meaning (which I unfortunately don't remember right now!) but contrast it with a regional power:<p>Russia, China, and Iran are regional powers: they have significant influence in the area near their borders. Russia controls Belarus, part of Georgia, part of Ukraine, has great influence part of Moldova, etc. Iran influences the Persian Gulf, Iraq, Syria, etc. Russia can fight a major war in Ukraine, right on Russia's borders. But you couldn't imagine (or shouldn't be able to) Russia or Iran fighting a major war across an ocean - they don't have the resources to do that. Similarly, if Russia or Iran threaten economic sanctions on immediate neighbors, those neighbors have a problem. If they threaten them on say, Mexico, Mexico will mostly not care.<p>The U.S., by contrast, is a superpower: If the US threatens sanctions, most countries have to pay serious attention - notice that the US sanctioned Russia, which is crippling Russia's economy. Russia also sanctioned the US - has anyone noticed? The US military can fight wars anywhere in the world, and operates around the world with bases on every inhabited continent. And not all power is coercive and negative, especially for free democracies. The US has a network of friendship and alliances that span the world, as you can see in the response to Russia, stretching from Europe to the US to East Asia (Japan, etc.). The world admires the US (a little less now), follows their culture, listens to their music, uses their iPhones, Androids, Windows computers, Macs, etc. The Beatles sang with American accents. Programming languages worldwide are in <i>English</i>.<p>China is not a superpower yet. However, the main requirements of a superpower are income, which China may soon lead the world in, population, and enough political stability to focus outside their borders (e.g., not fighting a civil war). China seems to be on their way. But it takes much more: I pointed out the US's network of alliances and friendships. Dictatorships have few friends, beyond those they buy or conquer; the USSR conquered many (the non-Russian countries in the USSR and the Warsaw Pact) and bought more. The US alliances are why the leading power in East Asia is ... the US, not China. Japan and South Korea, among others, would rather align with the US, who promotes and defends their freedom, than China, who existentially threatens it. If you add up the US alliances, China is far behind.<p>The hope is that in China, like former dictatorships that threatened the US like Japan and Germany, the people will some day be free to run their country as they wish (i.e., democratically), and then there is no reason for the competition. Their relationship with the US can be like Europe, Japan, etc.: Great trade partners, allies, who would never imagine war with each other. It's hard to imagine why the Chinese people would want otherwise - run their own country, live in peace (with no threat of war), be free, get wealthy - but the Communist Party obviously has other plans right now.