A lot of good points have been said already, but here are a few more I can think of off of the top of my head:

Check the military spending statistics. The US is in the lead by far - I haven't calculated the numbers myself but it's been speculated that the US spends more than the top 20 countries combined.

China's rise in economic power relied on its economic interdependency with the US - it thrived because of the US, not in spite of it. I don't think China will be able to create their own world economic system anytime soon.

China's more concerned with the stability of East Asia as a whole rather than acquiring hegemonic power in the global system.

I'm not claiming to be an East Asian buff but I think there's a lot of cultural ignorance when people look at China's growth in the 21st century. It's important to acknowledge the historical context of East Asia and the actual implications of China's rise in economic growth (as many others have said already).

I have the Leopold Otaku Tenkeyless with MX Browns and I'm loving it. The build quality is fairly decent and even without the PS/2 adapted it can pretty much register all the keys I need it to.

Mousepad-wise I'm using a Zowie G-CM with a Zowie EC2 eVo. The reason why I didn't pick the G-TF was that it felt like it would eat through my mouse feet fairly quickly. The G-CM is a cloth surface and so far I've had no problems with it. Mine is XL and is more than comfortable to play on.

EDIT: Didn't see that the OP decided already, sorry.