Think Again: Asia's rise

Minxin Pei's Foreign Policy article, "Think Again: Asia's Rise", was very intriguing. I continue to hear that very soon in the 21rst Century, China will surpass the US as the number one economy, if not, as the number one Super Power. Even in my professional development today at Kennedy High School, the PD coordinator introduced one of the sessions with that remark...wasn't sure if he was trying to inspire us or depress us...perhaps maybe he was trying to rile us up so we can angrily participate in the PD with our fists in the air. Anyways...I myself admitted in my first blog for this Institute that one would be a fool to not want to learn about the country which will dominate a Pax China 21rst century. Nevertheless, Minxin Pei's article gave me a completely different perspective regarding the future of China. Minxin Pei downplays he myths of China/Asia's domination for each subsection, including the myths that "Power is Shifting from West to East", "Asia's Rise is Unstoppable", and particularly, that "China will Dominate Asia". I have always known that Asian nations lack in Nobel Prize winners, and so the article's debunking of the myth "Asia Will Lead the World in Innovation" did not strike me by surprise. If nothing else, the article puts a sigh of relief to patriotic Americans like myself who previously had a concern of the United States no longer becoming the number one economy/Super Power. Still, "Think Again: Asia's Rise" mentioned that China would take decades to dominate as the World Power if it ever does. The article content and ideas can be shard with the students as a reading activity, and a class discussion would center around the point of views of Minxin Pei which differs greatly from many (including myself & my Kennedy HS colleague) who have said that China will be the Super Power the recon with. The article realistically says that inequality and corruption in China's Communist regime could slow its growth, yet Minxin Pei admits that replacing a Communist regime with a democratic one wold bring "a lengthy period of unstable transition. I am in complete agreement with that viewpoint, and China's history during the unstable Republic era of 1912-1949 reinforces that viewpoint.