Discounting China

There are solid reasons to short Beijing's ambitions right now

Jim Nuttle illustration from “America’s New Map”

Back in 2010 I penned a piece for Esquire entitled “When China Ruled the World: Or why the ‘China Century’ will be the shortest on record.” It did not attract much attention back then, admittedly, but the China hype wagon was rolling along in those days, so you live with it.

The start was pretty fun (I thought):

There's a moment in part two of Quentin Tarantino's revenge epic, Kill Bill, in which legendary martial-arts master Pai Mei teaches the Bride how to exact her revenge by delivering the killer blows instantly and then waiting for her nemesis to drop. Pai Mei "hits you with his fingertips at five different pressure points on your body, and then lets you walk away. But once you've taken five steps, your heart explodes inside your body and you fall to the floor."

And the battle is over before it really begins.

The rest of the article describes the “five steps” China will take before dropping to the floor.