A lot is being written and discussed about the issue of the USA and Western countries losing prominence in world affairs (in the foreseeable future ) and China taking their place. A recent article discussed this possibility http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/dani-rodrik-will-china-ruleworld/383042/.. In my humble opinion, too much is being read into China's current pace of economic growth (contrasted with economic stagnation in the West ). Though it might turn out to be true that China would eventually compete with , possibily even surpass USA in economic and political influence, that would not neccesarily mean that China would end up being as prosperous or affluent country as US or other developed nations.

First of all, we should keep in mind that China has an enormously disproportionate share of the world population -1.3 billion people, around 20 % of humanity. A country of such jumbo size is bound to have a disproportionate economic and political influence, even with mediocre levels of development. To drive home this point, consider the fact that even after 2 decades of being a rapidly growing economy , China's HDI rank is still 92nd, and its per capita income is still around 1/7th of that of the US. China is miles behind the developed world in prosperity and development levels, and despite a rapid growth rate, the average Chinese would still remain poorer than the average American for many decades to come.

Hence, China's (future ) superpower status will stem not so much from its prosperity or development, but more from its disproportionate share of the world population. Ditto for India, which will still remain a poor country for many decades, but a poor country with enormous economic and political influence. It would be an interesting situation to see developing nations assuming the status of superpowers , while much more prosperous and developed ( but smaller in population ) nations being relegated to the second position.

All this while , developed nations will still remain the hubs for research and innovation , and much new technologies will still originate from the developed countries, which will have a larger capital to invest in such pursuits.