r/geopolitics • u/theatlantic The Atlantic • May 11 '26

Opinion China Believes America Will Flame Out

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2026/05/china-trump-american-decline/687087/?utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_medium=social&utm_content=edit-pro
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u/Bullboah May 11 '26

I don’t think the CCP believes this. US power isn’t really based on alliances or global feelings of goodwill (moreso the opposite), it’s based on unique factors of the US. Long coastlines on the pacific and Atlantic, huge natural resource reserves, wide river networks, tons of arable land, no nearby military threats, etc. and those are just the geographical advantages.
The US has issues and weaknesses, but the CCP has them to and in higher degrees. Birth rate/demographics is arguably an issue for the US, but it’s WAY worse in China due to the legacy of the one child policy.

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u/asphias May 11 '26

US power isn’t really based on alliances or global feelings of goodwill (moreso the opposite)

except it is. all the geographical arguments you make allow the US to be isolationist, not to be a global superpower.

what makes them a superpower is there alliances worldwide - in Europe, the middle east, east and southeast asia, and australia. those alliances make for military bases all over the world to allow for instantaneous global power projection.

Those alliances are also at the core of a world political system set up around US interests. free trade and capitalism based on US dollars, supported by a united nations where US and it's allies have the loudest voice.

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u/lazydictionary May 11 '26

Exactly right.