I was pleased to have the opportunity to talk today about The New Art of War today at Columbia University. One of America’s top China watchers, Andrew Nathan, was my moderator.
The audience consisted of a large number of Chinese students, which led to some fascinating exchanges. One in particular: when I said Americans had been surprised by China’s apparent bid to establish a China-based world order, this student said the Western order created by the U.S., Europe and Japan after World War II had left China out. China has no choice but to create a world order in its image.
I added that Americans were surprised that China wanted to achieve technological supremacy. “Why are you surprised?” this student said. It has been obvious to the Chinese people all along that that was their government’s goal, and perhaps their own. They are seeking a sort of revenge for the “century of humiliation” imposed on them by Western powers and Japan starting in the 1840s until Mao Tse-Tung won power in 1949. They have little interest in absorbing Western values or systems; it is a time of reckoning.
