The United States and China in Power Transition - Strategic Studies ...

ture; however, these conditions do not reject the possibility that
China and the United States are engaged in a power transition
process. The fact that the United States will uphold its superiority
does not reject the possibility of power transition, either. The
power transition theory does not rule out the possibility that the
dominant power can defeat the upstart and retain the international
order.
3. Fareed Zakaria, The Post-American World, New York: W. W.
Norton, 2009.
4. Martin Jacques, When China rules the World: the End of the
Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order, New York: Penguin
Press, 2009.
5. Steve Chan, China, the U.S., and the Power-Transition Theory,
New York: Routledge, 2008, presents perhaps the most insightful
critiques. See especially Chap. 2 on power scores and the identity
of central contenders.
6. See Liu Mingfu (刘明福), 中国梦 (The China Dream), Beijing,
China: China Friendship Publishing Company, 2010.
7. See the literature on international rivalries.
8. See the Hu Jintao’s Report to the Chinese Community Party’s
(CCP’s) 17th Party Convention, China’s 11th Five-Year Plan
(2006-10), and China’s Modernization Reports from 2001 to the
present.
9. In August 2010, China’s gross domestic product (GDP)
surpassed that of Japan to become the second largest economy
in the world, trailing only the United States. However, China’s
per capita income level is still way below that of Japan (No. 23)
and the United States (No. 6) by 2009 measures. China’s goal is to
close the gap of its comprehensive national power to that of the
United States and other advanced nations. Per capita income is a
better measurement for that purpose. China’s current standing in
per capita income is from the International Monetary Fund (IMF),
World Bank, and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) estimates.
The IMF estimate of China’s per capita income ranking in 2009
was No. 98 out of 192 nations in the world (World Economic Out-
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