The US has brushed off many challenges to its paramount power status over the last century. After World War I, Britain still had a sprawling empire, but there was little doubt that power was ebbing from its hands and slipping towards the other side of the Atlantic. World War II left the US briefly as Masters of the Universe until the USSR got nuclear bombs of its own. In the 1980s came a different sort of threat with Japan’s rise, led by its resurrected companies. This threat ended in the early 1990s and the tech boom out of Silicon Valley put the US back on top of the global pile.

Now the US is facing its greatest challenge ever. China is flexing its financial muscle and its huge power, and making a determined bid to create a ‘China Age’ in which it would be at least equal, if not superior in strength, to the US. On the corporate front, China’s tech companies are coming up with their own innovations — Tencent is now the fifth-largest global corporation; China will be a leader in electric vehicles and solar power. It’s even attempting to control its mega-pollution problem.

China brings a very different world view to global negotiating tables, believing as it does that its own way of running things is superior to all others. Xinhua recently scornfully dismissed western-style democracy, declaring, “China has absolutely no need to import the failing party political systems of other countries”. China views the flailing Trump presidency as an opportunity and The China Daily has just published a 5,500-word treatise on how China must grab influence globally and position itself to seize strategic advantages of all kinds. The world sees India as another emerging superpower that could potentially counter Chinese influence. But how much of this is wishful thinking and whether we will be able to shape this century to our liking is another matter.

Editorial Consultant

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