How China is seeking to transform the meaning of great power

As China has emerged as a peer competitor to the United States in many areas, an increasingly familiar question is whether it has become a superpower. The question, however, may rest on a definition of power that belongs to another era.China possesses many attributes traditionally associated with great powers: a large population, vast territory, a major economy, advanced technological capabilities and growing military strength. Yet Beijing describes China as a “major country” rather than a “great power” or “superpower”. Its white paper on global governance, for example, presents China as a major country advocating a more just and equitable international order.It reflects a different conception of what power is for, and perhaps what constitutes responsible power in the 21st century.The term “superpower” dates from the second world war. In his 1944 book The Super-Powers: The United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union – Their Responsibility for Peace, American political scientist William T.R. Fox identified the three as a new category of states whose military and geopolitical capabilities gave them an exceptional role in shaping the post-war order.The ability to move and sustain armed forces across major theatres of war, supported by overseas bases and extensive geopolitical reach, was a defining attribute of the new superpowers. Fox’s argument also carried an important implication: those possessing such exceptional capabilities would bear an exceptional responsibility for preserving peace.That concept remains relevant. Military power, strategic reach and the ability to deter or defeat adversaries continue to shape international politics. But they no longer exhaust the sources of national power.Over the past eight decades, economic interdependence, global supply chains, technology, finance and industrial capacity have become increasingly important instruments of geopolitical influence. Power can also arise from the ability to produce critical goods, control strategically important technologies, withstand economic pressure or impose costs on an adversary through disruption of commercial networks.This is one reason the experience of the past decade is difficult to fit neatly into a purely military definition of power.