America is an empire, our government may not like to admit this in public, perhaps considering it to be hubris on their part, but in actuality it is true. There are many ways to judge the richness and power of nations to which two of the most significance are wealth and military power, of which America is second to none. While the wealth of any nation can be measured against many different matrixes so that from a Gross Domestic Product standpoint, China has edged passed America, the fact of the matter is, that China is a country with four times the amount of people in population, and therefore not only is it a country that on a per capita basis is a pale comparison to America, it is also a country, that to a large extent, relies extensively on exporting far more goods than it imports. This means, for instance, that China exports in abundance to America real products and in return, receives paper or virtual dollars, to which , one may ask, who, at the end of day, will be laughing last?
Then too, there is the military might of America, which is known and felt throughout all countries and the entire world. America, alone, is the only nation that has the audacity to throw its weight around in all seven seas, to which it has countless foreign rights to bases on land and ports in strategically placed nations throughout the world and pretty much writes the ticket on what it wants to do, no matter the Constitutional or religious stipulations of a given nation. So too, can America, alone, at any time, for any reason that it so desires, wage war or what would be considered to be war, against any nation, to which there is not one nation, that could withstand its assault, should America desire to lay its full force upon them.
The fact that the world's reserve currency is the American dollar, and the fact that America is the preeminent military power in the world, means that virtually all other nations, whether they wish to admit knowingly to this or not, must pay tribute to America on a daily basis. America, alone or in conjunction with its allies, is not a nation or an institution that any country in this world can cross in any manner without suffering retribution for having done so. This means that whatever rules that America demands, or whatever tribute that must be paid, by for instance, providing access to America military personnel, or for favorable trade agreements, or for the luxury of having liquid currency exchanges, or for food and water, or medical supplies, or fuel of all sorts, or education or for infrastructure, that all of this must flow through the hands of America or its designated subsidiaries.
The upshot of World War II was that it placed an emphatic stamp on the power of America, to which, those that understood well, that a new paradigm must be recognized, such as Japan and Germany, have done remarkably well since each of their respective nations were brought to their knees by the power of the allied forces and in particular, America. Each nation of the world recognizes implicitly that to be a friend of America, is to have life, and to be its enemy, is to be prey for the American eagle's talons.
No matter what table that America sits at, or the ostensible power structure of such a meeting, America is the only country that really matters and what America wants it gets and those that fail to recognize this, will suffer or be changed, or be ostracized, or compromised, or be controlled by its true master.