China wants to own the road

It has been clear for some time that the People’s Republic of China intends to displace the United States as a hegemonic power. But Western leaders have been unwilling to recognize the failed strategy of integration and make the badly needed adjustments.

Seduced by the conceit that the fall of the Soviet Union heralded the triumph of a liberal world order of free trade and interdependence, the U.S. and other liberal countries invited China to join the World Trade Organization, believing that China would happily accept the tenets of a liberal economic order and “play by the rules” of that order.