Interesting how when we talk about the rise of China we do so almost wholly in quantitative terms, not qualitative - because if you're going to compare China to America, which is implicit in this kind of discussion, one should really be talking about the full spectrum of a rise to power - America wasn't simply an economic success story, ie merely a quantitative success - America changed everything - the way we talk, the way we dress, the way we entertain ourselves, the way we build and buy things, the way we view the limits of government and the people, the individuals that sustain it - everything. Does anyone see China replicating this civilizational, this epochal feat? I see zero indication of that.
I wonder if viewing the rise of China in this very circumscribed way is a result of anti-Americanism - I'm thinking of a recent poll that suggested many countries already see China as the prime economic power in the world even though it's really not close - America accounts for about 22% of world GDP, while China accounts for about 10% - although granted, China will probably pass the US in ten years or so baring significant changes to the status quo [I for one believe there in fact will be significant changes]. What's more, virtually all of the biggest, most transformative, most impactful companies in the world are American - none are Chinese. But what's interesting is how the countries where the belief is strongest that China has already surpassed the US are almost all in Europe - not surprising that Europeans would want to remove qualitative parameters and focus on a presumed strictly quantitative future reckoning of China's rise viz America - otherwise they'd have to say good things about America and they're loathe to do that.
I see a problem in this tendency to view China through an anti-American filter: it distorts reality in a way that is like to leave us vulnerable - it's self defeating - if you can't see the good that America does or has done than it's unlikely you're gonna be very motivated to preserve it - but you're diminishing or marginalizing that good in order to champion what in its place?
