  But there are many other factors that would make China's economic growth more successful than japan:   1. Late blooming: China does not need to reinvent the wheel and can simply aquire the technology from different investors and start their industries from current level of technology and excell from that point onwards. it also learns from the mistakes from other industrialized countries, so it can better tackle and/or avoid their problems in the future.   2. Large workforce: With the largest population, means a larger workforce- not only will this workforce will be very competitive that would boost creative thought in order to survive, but it will also allow labour cost's to keep low whilst productive capacity increase's- thus China get richer, as the population gets richer, people can afford better education and better living conditions- thus the 2nd generation will be the white-collar workers (doctors, scientists, engineers) as compared to the 1st generation labourers, it's already happening- and it's started with my generation.   3. Globalized economies: With intertwined economies, it'll allow China to have better access to different markets from around the world to quickly spread her influence.  4. Large potential market: Investers salivate at China's markets- but these markets will be reserved for domestic business's- meaning that China will not be as dependant on foreign resources as Japan is.   5. Independancy: Japan has sanctions treaties imposed onto it, meaning that there are certain restrictions in what Japan can and can not achieve- such as military technology. Unlike China, were it is completely free.   6. China's power in the UN- unlike Japan, China has Veto-power in the UN, meaning that it already has much more influence in geo-politics as compared to Japan.  7. China's energy supply line from Africa.   8. An authoritarian/capitalist goverment- allows things to be done quickly, where things can be changed very quickly if drastic situations demand it. Such as things like Inflation.  9. Large Talent Pool: The more Chinese people that graduate from university couple with the increased wealth of China and it's standard of living will allow Chinese to invest more their time in more creative endevours (like Japan), and in each industry, there will always be a large workforce due to the sheer numbers of Chinese in the world.  1. Pretty valid point. I would offer though that China has problems to deal with that no other industrialized countries ever had to deal with so the I'm not sure how much mileage you will actually get out of not repeating the same mistakes as others. Sure seems that the pollution has been completely ignored.    2. You're making the assumption that all this workforce will be gainfully employed, well-fed and content. China will have to maintain smooth relations with the rest of the world in order to remain the factory of the world as it claims that it wants to be. Heavy-handed tactics and one-sided business rules are causing the cracks to already start appearing on this system. A large population of angry people is certainly not a blessing, and cracking skulls will only work for so long before the negative repercussions take effect.    3. Not so sure that markets will be as liberal in the future as they've been in the past. Don't assume that you'll have access to foreign markets in the future unless you make some concession in return. I think that this system has run it's course and China doesn't look to be quite the bargain it was in the past.    4. These huge potential markets haven't materialized as promised and investors are weary. You should expect retaliation if you demand access to foreign markets but deny access to your own. China leads the world in knock-offs and doesn't respect intellectual property so the market that you tout is vastly overstated.    5. Japan builds a lot of technology that is obviously of duel-use. They have a viable rocket program now and could easily produce warheads and missiles if needed, treaties be damned. Business and military build-up go hand in hand, yet again another reason why China's star is beginning to fade. You may not be bound by treaties, but public opinion and the regulations of other governments may make it trickier to do business with them the harder you explore military buildup.    6. The UN has outlived it's usefulness and will most likely go the way of the League of Nations. It's pretty dead as an organization and resolutions and veto's are not the be-all and end-all that you make them out to be. Much diplomacy happens outside of the UN and via special ops. Perhaps Japan is smarter in not seeking veto power as they see that you always end up pissing someone off when you exercise it? Sounds much more prudent and they understand soft diplomacy better than China ever could.    7. I wouldn't take that for granted. I give China 10 years before they've seriously pissed off a few African countries. The muslim minority that you have may also choose to stoke the fire and cause problems with muslim energy suppliers above the equator in Africa.    8. As your standard of living goes up, the tolerance for authoritarian government goes way down. Dealing with inflation is tricky as some group invariably will get hurt by whatever policy you choose to contain it, and you will in turn also have to contain their anger as well. Good luck with that.    9. I've said it before, but I'll say it again. A large population is a curse unless you can either keep them constructively engaged or controlled by force. The latter tends not to work out so well over time. When these people are educated, they tend to get pissed off when they can't find gainful employment and harbor resentment towards the government or system that doesn't deliver. China deals with this now by deflecting public anger onto Japan and America (allowing the people to vandalize embassies and businesses) but the smarter Chinese people see right through this. They will tire of beating on surrogates and will eventually start calling for the heads of the people that they are really angry at.