The purpose of this study is to compare U.S.-China power and check the hegemonic status of the two countries by examining the U.S.-China strategic competition and changes in national power together. According to a study that measured the power of a country using three factors: military, technological and economic power, it is hard to expect China's overwhelming overtaking of the U.S. in all respects, and it takes a long time, if possible.
However, simply ranking the power of the United States and China by comparing national power indicators is not enough to examine the actual power or status of the two countries. Therefore, this study also tracks the process of strategic competition between the U.S. and China.
In organizing strategic competition between the U.S. and China, first, this study summarized the point where the strategic competition started to be intensified. Since China's rise as G2 began to be visible, U.S.-China political leaders have begun to antagonize each other in their diplomatic rhetoric. And after examining both economic and security competition, it has been more clear that the competition between the U.S. and China is intensifying around the Indo-Pacific region. The U.S. is focusing on the Indo-Pacific strategy, while China is focusing on the One Belt One Road and A2AD strategies.
And when the national power of U.S. and China was examined, sequentially in the comparison of military power, economic power, and technological power, the United States still had an edge over China in every respect.
However, what this study pays attention to is China's competitiveness at the regional level. The Competition between the U.S. and China is focused on the Indo-Pacific region. China is also increasing its power around the region. This study also shows that China has a level comparable to the United States in Asia. If the analysis framework of Brooks and Wohlforth is applied, China can be classified as a potential power in 2022, which is the second stage(emerging potential power) at the global level, but in Asia.