To What Degree Does China's Growing Influence Challenge American Global Supremacy?

This paper examines the Sino-American rivalry within the framework of Organski’s Power Transition Theory and tries to ascertain the degree of threat that China’s rise poses to the global supremacy of the US. While a basic economic analysis based on Purchasing Power Parity suggests a transition already in progress, this study disproves any actual transition on the global scale. Through a careful analysis of recent empirical data from 2024-25, pertaining to global currency reserves, capability of projecting military power, and alliance networks, this paper reveals that despite material parity, China doesn’t have the Structural Power to displace the US as global hegemon. Although China shows a high level of dissatisfaction and revisionist ambitions through the Global Governance Initiative and expansion of BRICS membership and functions, the structural supremacy of the US in the global hierarchy remains intact. This paper concludes that China may be on its way to becoming a regional hegemon, but cannot attain global dominance, leading to a condition of ‘entrenched asymmetry’ instead of a complete power transition.