There are some that speculate that China will soon replace the USA as the world’s superpower.
My opinion is that China just has too many domestic problems to be able to achieve number one status.
Lives Like Garbage: Children with Birth Defects Abandoned
Why would that have any impact on achieving #1 status. It could be an advantage that they put their resources to their strengths and treat huge portions of their population as disposable. (Unethical, but number one status as a superpower doesn’t mean 'world’s most ethical country.")
like any large nation, outside of the major industrial centers, there are a lot of dirt-poor areas. I wouldn’t be surprised if stuff like this went on in impoverished rural areas inside the US too, just at a smaller scale.