Brad DeLong:

I think the answer is clear: if possible, the current superpower should embrace its possible successor. It should bind it as closely as possible with ties of blood, commerce, and culture—so that should the emerging superpower come to its full strength, it will to as great an extent possible share the world view of and regard itself as part of the same civilization as its predecessor: Romans to their Greeks.

In 1877, the rising superpower to the west across the ocean was the United States. The preeminent superpower was Britain. Today the preeminent superpower is the United States. The rising superpower to the west across the ocean is China.

I’d be curious to know what Brad thinks we can actually do to bind China to us. Putting aside the ethno-cultural dimension for the time being, the main problem as I see it is one of rootedness and tradition. In both of Brad’s examples, he’s describing an older society making way for a younger, more malleable one on which the elder can impress itself. The Chinese, however, are not upstarts—they’ve been around for literally thousands of years. There’s precious little we can do to mould China one way or another. China will be ineffably Chinese and will fashion a dominant place in this world according to its own precepts and self-understanding.