Getting Real About China

China’s active, even confident suppression of dissent has diminished western hopes for democracy in the world’s largest nation. “China’s foreign policy relies on keenly calculated self-interest, at the expense of the international institutions, standards and obligations the United States has sought to champion,” writes retired US Army General Wesley Clark in an opinion essay for the New York Times. “It increasingly views the United States as a rival and potential adversary.” China may feel superior to the United States after bungled interventions, climbing debt along with the subprime mortgage crisis that preceded the global credit crisis, though Clark notes that “the deeper strategic problem for America is China’s more fundamental challenge to the global architecture of trade, law and peaceful resolution of disputes that the United States and its allies created after World War II.” Countries that hope to exert global influence must enact their own reforms, and Clark urges the United States to develop a “long-term strategic vision” structured around a strong economy, patient diplomacy and a capable military. – YaleGlobal