– China, Growing Superpower

Americans fear China, the superpower
S. Rajagopalan

China, and not India, will be a superpower in 10 years. That is the view of an overwhelming majority of American adults, according to a Harris Interactive poll released on Tuesday.

But then, more Americans feel it will be in the US's best interest to encourage India's growth and prosperity instead of China's. What they dread is China's military might, rather than its economic clout, once it is anointed as the superpower.

As many as 70 per cent of those surveyed felt China will emerge as a superpower by 2015. Only 20 per cent believe India will attain that status by then. In the survey, 41 per cent opted for Japan, 31 per cent for European Union, 25 per cent for UK and 15 per cent for Russia.

Quite a few (29 per cent) think that China is already an economic superpower. This compares with 67 per cent who say the US is the only one in the big league. Only 2 per cent regard India as a superpower.

The poll conducted across the US in mid-October covered 1,833 adults.

On the question of US encouraging other economies to grow, 39 per cent rooted for India as opposed to 24 per cent for China. But much higher numbers favoured the other four players (UK — 69 per cent, EU — 55, Japan — 47 and Russia — 45).

"Concerns about China gaining strength seem to be more focused on its potential military rather than economic gains, though concerns about China's economic growth are not insignificant," the authors said.