I thought this was quite funny -- it's from the cover of the March 31 Economist (note the Foreclosure Sale sign; the version at the following link might be easier to read). From the article:
...Already a big idea has spread far beyond China: that geopolitics is now a bipolar affair, with America and China the only two that matter. Thus in London next month the real business will not be the G20 meeting but the “G2” summit between Presidents Barack Obama and Hu Jintao. This not only worries the Europeans, who, having got rid of George Bush’s unipolar politics, have no wish to see it replaced by a Pacific duopoly, and the Japanese, who have long been paranoid about their rivals in Asia. It also seems to be having an effect in Washington, where Congress’s fascination with America’s nearest rival risks acquiring a protectionist edge.
"...Already a big idea"
ReplyDeletebig and false.
The EU is a much bigger economy.
The USSR grew faster than the west until 1970.
Maybe, maybe not. A Chinese century is certainly plausible, and if it happens it will appear inevitable in hindsight.
ReplyDeleteDuring the last 40 years, the future has successively belonged to the Soviet Union, Japan, the USA, and now China...
Think now History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions, Guides us by vanities. Think now She gives when our attention is distracted And what she gives, gives with such supple confusions That the giving famishes the craving. Gives too late What's not believed in, or if still believed, In memory only, reconsidered passion. Gives too soon
Into weak hands, what's thought can be dispensed with Till the refusal propagates a fear.
The Chines will bury the US for two reasons:
ReplyDelete1) China is relatively homogeneous ethnically
2) The best in China really are the best. In the US they are nly pretty good. Admission to the ruling class in China is determined by performnce on objective exams. It would be as if US college admissions depended only on the SAT.