NY is amazing. Would like to spend more time in Asia though, Hong Kong or Singapore would be fun too. Speaking of Asia, Japan has probably the most potential (out of any other country in the world) to become a world Superpower. Check it out:
Japan arguably has the second-best navy in the Pacific, centered around four helicopter-carrying destroyers, nine guided-missile destroyers, 34 destroyers, and 18 diesel-electric submarines. A large number of these ships (two of the guided-missile destroyers, 13 of the destroyers, and nine of the submarines) have entered service were since 1995, making this a very modern force. The rate of ship construction has held its own with China (which has added eight destroyers, 12 frigates, and 10 submarines in that timeframe), and this is with Japan arguably holding back.
Japan’s air force is similarly modern, and is built around the F-15J (a variant of the F-15C) and the F-2 (a stealthier version of the F-16 with four additional hardpoints). The total quantity of the F-15J force is about 200 aircraft (counting the combat-capable F-15DJ two-seater). Currently, 130 F-2s are authorized (49 are presently in service), but the figure could likely go higher as the 92 F-4EJ Kai Phantoms are retired as well. This is smaller than the 380 Su-27/Su-30MKKs in the Chinese air force, but Japan has a huge advantage, in airborne early warning aircraft, over China, having operated E-2s since the 1980s, and is now acquiring the E-767, four of which are currently in service. China might have four A-50 Mainstay aircraft in service as of 2005, but this is a huge if, and they are trailing Japan by 15 years in learning how to use them.
Japan’s economy is half that of China ($3.4 trillion to $6.7 trillion), but Japan gets its GDP from a population that is about 10 percent of China’s. Japan also holds a significant lead in technology (for instance, the Civic and Prius hybrids that are on the road today were designed in Japan), and its shipbuilding program continues (two diesel-electric submarines, two helicopter-carrying destroyers, two new Aegis guided-missiles destroyers, and four more Takanami-class destroyers are planned to join the fleet by 2010). Japan is also keeping its military strength at this level by spending one percent of its GDP on defense. China spends about 1.7 percent of its GDP. As one can see, Japan has the potential to be a superpower.
posted by Kevin at 3:02 PM
1 Comments:
I strongly disagree with your assertion that Japan is next in line to become a superpower. Although Japan does have a formidable military and a great economy, that's about it. Japan's diminutive geographic footprint holds it back and its population is relatively small and is only expected to shrink. Japan also has little access to raw materials, which makes it very dependent on other nations. This weakness was exploited during WWII and no doubt played a major role in Japan's eventual defeat.
China, as most would agree, is the clear front-runner in the race to become the world's second superpower. On top of having the world's largest population and a rapidly expanding economy, China also has the world's largest standing army and, more importantly, a potent nuclear deterrent with ground-based ICBMs (the US and Russia are the only other countries with this weapon system). China also has the ability to send humans into space, a large sphere of influence and is rapidly becoming modernized. The only things China has to watch out for are economic and political instability that will likely follow its path to superpower status, which I predict it will reach within 25 years.
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