Will 21st Century Be China’s?

Will 21st Century Be China’s?

from The Diplomat by Edward Friedman

The big question in international affairs is how much clout will China have in the 21st century?  One way to get at this unknowable future is to put China’s rise in comparative perspective.  By the mid-1990’s, pundits in China began to call the 21st century China’s century.  This prediction was premised on the idea that the 20th century was the American century and that U.S. predominance would be replaced by that of China. To be sure, as World War II drew to an end, the United States became a hyper power. Given the devastation of Europe and Japan, the U.S. suddenly had industry, gold, money, military, education opportunities and more that far exceeded any other power. To avoid a repeat of the depression horrors that followed World War I, the United States helped establish win-win international institutions, with the Bretton Woods system, nourished by an open American market, helping post-war Europe and Japan ... Read More...