Some people say that the United States is the only superpower in the world. So, does that mean China and India are not superpowers?

有人说美国是全世界唯一的超级大国，如此说来，中国和印度不是超级大国了？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Nathan James

This question is 4 years old. Things have changed somewhat…

A superpower is a nation that possesses dominant global influence militarily, economically, technologically, and diplomatically. Neither China nor India presently qualify.

这个问题已经是4年前的问题了。现在情况有些不一样了……

所谓超级大国，是指在军事、经济、技术和外交上都拥有全球影响力的国家。中国和印度目前都还算不上。

However, China today is not far behind USA. Militarily, China is the second largest behind USA…the largest standing army, the largest navy numerically, capable of building supercarriers, possessing operational hypersonic missiles. China is the second largest military spender, far ahead of third place India.

但如今的中国已经不再远远落后于美国了。中国是仅次于美国的第二大军事国，拥有兵力最多的现役陆军和海军，有能力建造超级航母，拥有高超音速导弹。中国还是第二大军费开支国，远远超过第三位的印度。

China is the world’s largest economy by purchasing power parity, and soon the largest by nominal GDP before the end of this decade, according to all economic projections.

BRICS is working to create a global reserve currency alternative to the US Dollar.

China is technologically a peer of USA in many areas, and well ahead in others. China is behind in semiconductors and space exploration but this gap will close in the coming decades.

按购买力平价计算，中国是世界上最大的经济体，按名义GDP计算，在2030年前，中国会很快成为世界上最大的经济体。

金砖五国正在努力创建一种替代美元的全球储备货币。

中国在很多科技领域与美国旗鼓相当，还在其他领域遥遥领先于美国。中国在半导体和太空探索方面落后于美国，但这一差距将在未来几十年内不断缩小。

China is very strong diplomatically. Alliances like BRI, BRICS, RCEP, SCO, etc. give China enormous diplomatic power around the world.

USA is losing soft power. Most of the world have refused to join USA in sanctioning Russia. USA failed to get OPEC to increase oil production. USA failed to create a SE Asian coalition against China. USA repeatedly fails to compete with BRI.

中国在外交上非常强大。“一带一路”、“金砖五国”、“区域全面经济伙伴关系”、“上海合作组织”等联盟让中国在全球拥有了强大的外交力量。

美国的软实力正在悄然褪色。世界上大多数国家拒绝加入美国制裁俄罗斯的行列。美国没能让欧佩克增加石油产量。美国也没能建立起东南亚联盟来对抗中国。美国在“一带一路”上屡屡失败。

All this is NOT to say that China will become a superpower. China seeks to create a multipolar world order where major powers cooperate to solve global issues such as military conflict, climate change, poverty, disease, human ri hts, and economic development.

China will NEVER have 750 military bases in 80 countries:

我并不是说中国会成为一个超级大国。中国希望搭建大国之间紧密合作，解决军事冲突、气候变化、贫困、疾病、人*和经济发展等全球性问题的多极化世界秩序。

中国绝不会在80个国家设立750个军事基地：

China will NEVER spend anywhere close to USA’s annual military budget (currently approaching a trillion dollars).

中国的军费开支永远不会接近美国的年度军事预算(目前已近一万亿美元)。

Rob Lamontagne

A superpower is a major global power that can extend its power across the globe. The United States is a superpower. The Soviet Union was a superpower. China and India are not (yet) superpowers.

超级大国是指可以在全球范围内扩张势力的主要全球大国。美国是一个超级大国。苏联也算一个超级大国。但就目前而言，中国和印度还不是超级大国。

China will soon have the ability to be a superpower, if it wants. In fact, it arguably already does. You can see the growing political, economic and even cultural influence of China, particularly in its region but also farther afield from Africa to South America. Until then, it’s a rapidly growing and already dominant regional power (you could call it a regional superpower in East Asia, but that defeats the purpose of calling it a superpower in the first place).

只要中国愿意，它很快就会有能力成为超级大国。事实上，你也可以说它已经是个超级大国了。你会看到中国日渐崛起的政治、经济甚至文化影响力，尤其是在其所在的亚洲，也包括从非洲到南美的更大范围。在此之前，中国是一个快速增长且已经占据主导地位的区域大国（你可以称其为东亚地区的超级大国，但这违背了称其为超级大国的初衷）。

India is vastly poorer than China on a per capita basis, and lacks the political and social infrastructure enjoyed by the Chinese Co unist Party to organise development, so the possibility of becoming a superpower is much further away. That said, it is also a regional power in the Indian Ocean.

按人均标准计算，印度比中国穷多了，也不具备中国展开经济发展所需的政治和社会基础设施，因此成为超级大国的可能性要渺茫得多。尽管如此，它也算是印度洋上的一个区域大国。

Quinten Roald Stärk

The idea of a superpower was created in the 19th century and should have been abandoned 50 years ago because it is a useless concept today.

超级大国的概念诞生于19世纪，早在50年前就应该被抛弃了，现如今这已经是一个无用的概念。

From the end of the Napoleonic wars to the end of the first World War the British empire was the most powerful country on earth. It started to use the word superpower to separate it from other powers. Its navy, industry and professional military was basically unmatched. Even the second power Germany was afraid of what the British could do. This is why Wilhelm II was hesitant at first to help the Austrians and why many in the military believed that the best victory they could hope for was against the Russians and Serbians. During both world wars Britain was never at risk of invasion, no German was that stupid.

从拿破仑战争结束到第一次世界大战结束，大英帝国是地表最强国家。它开始用超级大国这个词来区分它自己和其他大国。大英帝国的海军、工业和职业军队无可匹敌。就连排在第二的德国也忌惮英国人的所作所为。这就是为什么威廉二世一开始对帮助奥地利人犹豫不决，为什么军队中很多人认为他们能获得的最大胜利是对俄国人和塞尔维亚人的胜利。在两次世界大战期间，英国从未面临被入侵的危险，德国人也没有那么愚蠢。

Replace the American flag with a British one and you understand how the world felt towards the empire.

Britain was the absolute top dog with some other nations as second or third grade fellow superpowers.

Besides Britain there was Germany, France, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Italy and the Ottoman empire. Later Japan, the USA and the Soviet Union joined the super friends.

把美国国旗换成英国国旗，你就能理解世界各国对大英帝国的感受了。

英国是绝对的领头羊，其他一些国家则可以算做第二级或第三级超级大国。

除了英国，还有德国、法国、俄罗斯、奥匈帝国、意大利和奥斯曼帝国。后来日本、美国和苏联也加入了这个超级大国阵营。

All these countries were relatively self-reliant and were able to use force to get what they wanted. The more force they were able to use the more land they could conquer. And the more land they had the more recourses they had within their territory and the more self-reliant they became. This is how empires operate and keep themselves operating.

所有这些国家都相对独立，能够使用武力得到他们想要的东西。他们能使用的武力越多，他们能征服的土地就越多。他们拥有的土地越多，他们在领土内拥有的资源就越多，他们就越自给自足。这就是帝国运作和维系的方式。

The first World War changed the power relations but it did not end the traditional idea of a superpower or empire. The second World War did though. Britain and France were quickly losing its power, Germany, Italy and Japan were out of the game leaving only the US and USSR.

The United States quickly realised that this empire business didn't work. Countries striving to be self-reliant within their empire only leads to war and conquest. Instead the US started using its newfound power to do three things.

第一次世界大战改变了大国之间的关系，但并没有终结超级大国或帝国的传统观念。但第二次世界大战做到了。英国和法国遭受重创，德国、意大利和日本也黯然退场，只剩下美国和苏联。

美国很快意识到这种帝国主义的做法行不通，试图依靠帝国内部自力更生的国家只会导致战争和征服。于是美国开始利用新获得的影响力做了以下事。

It broke down trade barriers and forced nations to open their border for market exploitation.

And finally it started ruling not nations but trade. Its navy would not serve to keep colonies in line but instead to keep trade roads open and free.

它打破了贸易壁垒，迫使各国开放边境，开发市场。

最后，它开始控制贸易而非国家。它的海军不是用来震慑殖民地的，而是用来保持贸易通道的开放和自由的。

The US first tested this in Greece, a conflict that started as a British colonial war but ended as the starting point of the new American grand strategy.

And for a time it worked out perfectly. The US was the only nation with its industry still intact and so could remain self-reliant. At the same time empires were crumbling and nations were happy to sign up to the free trade world as it secured their future. At the same time the word was struggling to stay afloat and united demonstrated by the Sino-Soviet split and the invasion of Hungary by the USSR.

美国最先在希腊进行了尝试，这场冲突始于英国殖民战争，但以美国全新的大战略起点而结束。

曾经有一段时间，一切都进行得很顺利。美国是战后唯一一个工业完好无损，可以保持自给自足的国家。与此同时，各大帝国都摇摇欲坠，乐于加入自由贸易世界，因为这能确保它们的未来。与此同时，中苏决裂和苏联入侵匈牙利证明了世界的维系和团结已岌岌可危。

But then the US discovered something. Germans and Japanese make great cars. Indians and Chinese make cheap products. Turkiye and Tailand make cheap clothes. Saudi oil is cheaper than American oil. And so driven by profit margins the US started joining the word they had build. The Americans let go of their self-reliance and found that cheaper products and more profit was worth giving up their super power status.

但后来美国有了一些发现。德国人和日本人造的汽车都很棒。印度人和中国人可以制造廉价商品。土耳其人和泰国人可以加工廉价服装。沙特石油比美国石油便宜。因此，在利润率的驱动下，美国开始加入他们创造的世界。美国人放弃了自给自足，发现便宜的商品和更高的利润值得他们放弃超级大国的地位。

Today we live in a world were China and the US come into conflic quite often but are at the same time massive trade partners. The idea of the Superpower stopped exsting because the major powers lost their capacity to use force.

The US, China, UK, France and all other “superpowers” can't act as they want without disturbing the world order and so they don't act. The best they can do is invade very weak nations like Iraq or Georgia and even then it often doesn't end well.

今天，在我们生活的世界里，中国和美国时常发生冲突，但同时又是重大贸易伙伴。超级大国的概念不再存在，因为主要大国都失去了动用武力的能力。

美国、中国、英国、法国和所有其他“超级大国”都无法在不扰乱世界秩序的情况下为所欲为了，所以他们无法采取行动。他们最多也就是入侵伊拉克或格鲁吉亚这样的弱小国家，即便这样，往往也难以收拾残局。

A US president can maybe tople the regime of an unstable nation but so can Facebook as was demonstrated during the Arab spring. That same US president can also be baned from social media. Large corporations, trade roads and oil tankers can end a war before it even begins and change a country's foreign policy. Covid showed this better than anything ever could. It disrupted global trade and word descended into chaos.

The age of superpowers is over, and we're better of for it. The only people who haven't realised this are currently sending people to die in a pointless war in Ukraine.

美国总统或许可以推番一个动荡国家的政 权，但正如阿拉伯之春所证明的那样，Facebook也可以做到。而且这位美国总统还会被禁止使用社交媒体。大公司、贸易通道和油轮可以在战争开始之前就令其偃旗息鼓，并改变一个国家的外交政策。新冠疫情就非常好地证明了这一点，疫情扰乱了全球贸易，世界陷入混乱。

超级大国的时代已经结束了，我们也因此从中受益。那些没有意识到这一点的人，正在乌克兰那场毫无意义的战争中白白送命。

Jay Veller

A superpower is defined as a state that can project force and influence globally through military, diplomacy, soft power, etc.

The US is the only MILITARY superpower as they are the only nation capable of deploying or attacking any nation with conventional forces.

超级大国的定义是能够通过军事、外交、软实力等在全球范围内投射力量和影响力的国家。

美国是目前唯一的军事超级大国，因为他们是唯一有能力部署或攻打各国常规武装力量的国家。

China and Russian militaries are nowhere near this level of power projection. China is closest and they are DECADES away from that.

However, China is the 2nd largest economy in the world and working to grow and become more economically influential. They will become an economic superpower very shortly. And being able to wield economic influence is just as potent as military influence in most cases.

中国和俄罗斯的军事实力还远未达到这一水平。中国是和美国差距最小的国家，但也还有几十年的距离。

不过中国如今已是世界第二大经济体，铆足了劲努力增长、提升经济影响力。他们很快就会成为经济超级大国。在大多数情况下，经济影响力和军事影响力一样强大。

Samuel Liu

In the post-World War2 era, the USA has been the preeminent global superpower. From 1990–2008 (then abouts), the USA was the sole global superpower (hegemone).

China since 2008 or then abouts has been a global superpower, since its commerce and investment influences a majority of nations.

India is not a significant global power yet.

二战后，美国一直是傲视全球的超级大国。从1990年到2008年左右，美国是唯一的全球超级大国和霸主。

自2008年后，中国也成了全球超级大国，中国的商业和投资影响着大多数国家。

印度还算不上一个重要的全球大国。