[AIG]

The next few decades. By 2020, China's GDP adjusted for purchasing-power parity will be bigger than America's. Then China has the rest of the century to pull ahead. I don't doubt that Western civilization has been the leader in bringing about modern society. But over time, this gets diffused inevitably to other cultures. Romans benefitted from Greeks, Europeans benefitted from Romans, Americans benefitted from Europeans, Japanese benefitted from Americans, and now Chinese benefit from everybody and have the population size to sustain a big enough economy to pull ahead.

[Texasforever]

The next few decades. By 2020,

Nope, you have neither the industrial OR the technological base to get there in that time. There is a lot of water to pass under the bridge between now and then. China is in direct competition with other 2nd tier economies and they are developing far faster that yours. India is a prime example. More advanced politically and more entrepreneurial that China. The entire Pacific Rim plus all of Latin America is your competition and you are deluding yourself in thinking you pose a competitive threat to the West and the United States in particular in this century. China is a convenient source of cheap labor and as labor costs rise, which WILL happen, the offshore companies will just move to the next source.