China is Not a Superpower

Just like the unjustified statements of "the book publishing business is dead" and "no one wants CDs anymore, only MP3s", the new phrase "China is the new world super power" is not true.  And I am finally heartened to hear other commentators are backing me up on this (links here, here, and here). 

Yes, China has alot of people, but a huge percentage of them are uneducated and extremely poor - less than $3 a day poor.  Yes, China is a huge market, but only a very small percentage of those billion people have any disposable cash to buy anything beyond a daily ration. Yes, China has a massive army, but they are ill equipped and untrained compared to their NATO counter parts.  Yes, China has a space program, but they don't allow their population to move between cities or provinces without the right government authorization.  Yes, China holds huge amounts of American debt, but they peg their own currency to the dollar so that they can never call-in that debt without bankrupting their own economy.  Yes, China is developing lots of software (including cyber-warfare programs) but only 1 in 10 operating systems in China are not pirated.  Yes, China is adding lots of infrastructure (high speed rail, new air ports, new port facilities, power generation equipment) but their air is so polluted you can't see the sun, the air planes are made by Boeing and Airbus, the high speed rail runs less than a 100 miles, and the new airport facilities in Beijing had sinks and lights and toilets and escalators that did not function properly just 6 months after the airport opened - I'm talking 1/2 the sinks in the men's rooms, by my personal observation, not giving out any water. Yes, half.

When China can cleanly and efficiently produce high quality good that the world wants - and not just Walmart cr*p the most gullible Americans think they need - they'll begin to be a formidable world market force.  When the poorest parts of China look no worse than the poorest parts of the South Carolina Pee Dee or rural Eastern Tennessee, instead of the apocalyptic garbage scape that I saw wherever I traveled in rural China for 3 years, they can be considered a "developed nation" who takes care of their citizens, and begin to head towards "Superpower", but today, here and now, no.  China is Not a Superpower.

And to those China patriots and Sino defenders who have tried to post hateful, negative, snarky, erroneous retorts here previously on other Chinese topics, I welcome your posts, and any evidence, any facts - not just opinions - that you can provide to refute any of the personal observations I have stated here.  What I've stated is fact based, not just "China bashing".  I know what I saw and lived through for 3 years when I was there.  Prove that things are MUCH Better, MUCH improved now, please.