Photo: World Affairs Board
Elizabeth C. Economy, The Diplomat: China’s Secret Plan to Supplant the United States
A new book claims to shed light on a strategy that would make China the sole superpower by 2049.
We are entering the season of presidential primary politics, and many of the candidates—or at least their advisors—might benefit from a fresh look at the current crop of foreign policy books. China should be at or near the top of every candidate’s bedside reading list. With that in mind, I have begun to make my way through the mounting pile of new books and reports on U.S.-China relations that has accumulated over the past few months and thought I might offer a few reflections on what is novel and most useful—or not—from each. For those of you who have already read one of books, I welcome your thoughts.
WNU Editor: The Chinese have always been open on what are their long term goals and strategies. When I was working in China in the mid-1980s the Chinese premier of Fujian Province told me himself that their long-term goal was to be a global superpower .... and I have been hearing about it ever since. Will the Chinese attain their goals .... I am not sure about that. They are creating resentment in Asia via through their their territorial disputes .... and if this continues it will deny them what every superpower needs if they are to be a superpower .... global alliances and willing regional allies. But for the moment the Chinese are "on a roll", and it will be interesting to see if they can sustain it.
3 comments:
WNU Editor,
They already are a Global Superpower.
The question is, do they, like the US, also hold the failed and flawed dream of being the Worlds Sole Superpower?
If they do, then they will suffer the same self inflicted wounds toppling their power that the US has.
There is a typo in the blog post headline, its 2049 not 2019 just a nitpick.
But back to this topic, it's an quite interesting one. China has potential but has also its own share of problems. It may become a superpower but it will be very difficult to achieve. I think they should first aim for regional dominance, militarily, economically and diplomatically. Then they should continue with with this task and try to become first an sole world Economic superpower which is fully possible if they play their cards right and also fixes their internal problems. Just my thoughts.
Thank you for pointing it out Rhaegar. I have corrected it.
Your assessment is also correct. China has a lot of internal problems that are not being reported in the West.
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