China has inherited the confidence of Khrushchev’s famous declaration to the West: “We will bury you.”

Many Chinese leaders and policy analysts believe that, because of their country’s size, energy, and national ambitions, all mobilized by what they regard as a far more effective system of governance than the gridlocked pluralistic democracy that is trumpeted by the West, they will soon overtake the United States as the world’s largest economy and will eventually displace Washington and its allies as the most important power in the Western Pacific. Their argument is, essentially, the same as Khrushchev’s: China’s rise, and its eventual supremacy in its region, are inevitable because of the superiority of its system.

Read more