Word: systemically
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...aims for a concept of co-evolution with China will be harder in the short run. But it accepts that China is, like it or not, a defining power of our time and that the day has come for the U.S. to think in fresh ways about our global system. U.S.-China friendship sounds as impossible at the moment as calming fireworks. But decisions we make now, the way Obama and his team handle China as early as when they meet in Washington, may yet make it possible...
...problem with China isn't simply that we misunderstand each other. Mao used to say any problem could be divided into a "main problem" and "subsidiary problems." Our main problem is that China often feels only limited attachment to the power system that has evolved in the Western world. It has often been victimized by this system and has never felt the ownership over it that Western nations do. And of course China has centuries of native strategic culture that, overlaid with the neuralgia of Marxism, shapes its thinking. Calls for China to be a responsible stakeholder have failed...
...More than anything, Obama needs to replace our outdated ideas for dealing with China. Beijing can't, as many cold-warrior views of it might wish, be "contained"; it's far too interwoven into the global system for that. But it is also true that the fantasy some had of "engagement" - the hope that as China became richer, it would become more supportive of American interests - isn't working out either. What the U.S. needs is a new strategy. It should be one that takes a ruthless defense of American interests as a starting point, since without that, no strategy...
...question to which any answer suggests expanding discomfort. And in the eyes of many in Beijing, the car isn't running so well anyway. Might it not be better, Chinese wonder, to redesign it? Some of the questions China has started asking about the world system are ones we should be asking too. This isn't to say we should give in to China's sometimes unreasonable demands. But we should admit that our real challenge isn't making room for China. It's thinking about the global system...
...China is not the Soviet Union. There's no Jade Curtain falling over Asia. And if Moscow sought security through expansion, China's leaders will take another path. Uneasy about collision and aware of their weakness, they are likely instead to manipulate and eventually reshape the international system. Such an indirect, slow route suits both the Chinese temperament and the nation's obsession with stability. It means trying to reshape the landscape around an opponent instead of colliding with it directly, to win battles before you need fight them. In terms of military strategy, this means that China will attempt...