TEc "Second in line" - China speeds past Japan - A relevant fact in the relative weight of countries

If anything I would say that China overtaking Japan to become the world's second largest economy has come sooner than many of us were expecting.
China spent the first decade of the third millennium consecutively overtaking established large economies to now clear Japan.
As the country fills the number two spot current growth trends point to an unabated dash for number one.This could prove much harder than the path covered so far but given China's still large untapped potential it is more of a when than if.

Developed and mature economies such as Japan's and the US' have only limited room for expansion even under the best economic scenarios.
China on the other hand despite signs of a marginal slowdown, will predictably continue to expand an already large economy at rates above 10% or hovering around it.
How long will their economy manage to sustain such breakneck growth remains an open question that has in the past defied the wrong answers.

Looking back to as recently as two-three decades there is sheer amazement no less at what China has achieved so rapidly in absolute value.

In relative terms there are any number of wide-ranging issues that need to be successfully tackled before China closes in on developed societies.
As it is increased wealth is certainly making a difference but that which is left to do is nearly as much as that which has already been accomplished.
Maybe much more.
Going forward a generation is an incredibly short timespan in the longevity of nations and their history.

The Chinese have every reason to rejoice at their country's fast rise to stardom.
And prominence.

There is more to it than symbolisms and the niceties of global rankings.