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Comment by LordKano | Hacker News Reader

They don't need other markets to succeed.

They don't "need" those markets but they want them. It will help to solidify China's position as the third superpower.

There are incentives for those African nations to help this happen as well. Beyond the local benefits of increased commerce, they are thinking about negotiating better rates for their natural resources than they currently receive from the west.

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Boeing and Airbus want those markets as well. They don't want them any less than China does.

They want them just as much but don't have nearly as much to offer in return.

Boeing and Airbus have higher costs, though. They can't pay Chinese wages.

Serious question. What is the second superpower? EU?

The USSR was the second superpower. The USSR no longer exists and there isn't currently a second superpower but I think of it like spouses.

If you're married and divorced twice, when you marry again you may have only one spouse but that is your third spouse.

So does that make England the 0th superpower and maybe France the -1st? ;)

China led the world for a long time way before the superpower concept was even a thing. It fell behind only recently since the 1st Industrial Revolution started.

It really depends on how you define "superpower". There isn't any country that can project force the way the US can.

The EU certainly has the technology to be a military superpower, and a few member countries have relatively powerful land and air forces, but the Europeans don't have the logistics capability they'd need to fight a major war outside Europe, and their collective navy isn't very strong.

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