[Stephen_0xFF]

China wants to be number one and they have a good chance of doing it. Every nation’s leaders and people want that. It affords luxury and influence. The US understandably doesn’t want to lose their spot. It also helps making this an issue to give it a sense of urgency so things can get done — be it policy or innovation. There’s some game theory in there — e.g Prisoners Dilemma. Treating them as the enemy won’t lead to the optimal result, but if the US doesn’t and they do, it will lead to the worst result for the US. History is not filled with nations singing Kumbaya. I wish it was.

[roody15]

One could argue China may have already surpassed the US or at least equalled it on the world stage as of now. It will be interesting to see how historians view the rise of China and write about the emergence of a new super power.

Just a hunch and I am really going out on a limb here but I could see China wait another year or two and then step in and force a peace settlement in Ukraine. This would really show the world who the new super power is, as the US and Western powers have struggled with this conflict, a patient China could step in and reach a peace deal as they hold significant leverage over Russia.

[MangoToupe]

China has always been a powerhouse economy. It's really just a blip where they were surpassed in the last two hundred years.

[MangoToupe]

Yes, this is the attitude I'm referring to. The people who run this country (emphatically including people who frequent this forum) are far more my enemy than anyone in china could even pretend to be.

I also don't think Americans realize how quickly we will slide from relevance once our grip on the world slacks. We could have built this world into something amazing but instead we just got fat.

[Herring]

To be fair though, China has its morons too. If you can't deal with Republicans where you share a common language/culture/history, how are you gonna deal with a Chinese Trump on the other side of the world?

In the last election, Latinos voted 50-50 for Trump. That should have been a massive warning sign.

I like liberals, but they're way too passive. They really need to play the Prisoner's Dilemma in high school until they learn what to do when someone refuses to cooperate.