When China’s economic output eventually surpasses America’s some time in the next decade, it will be the first time since the reign of George III that the world’s largest economy belongs to a country that is not western, not English-speaking and not a liberal democratic state. Yet, in the asymmetric world that is emerging, the US will remain the dominant military force. The fulcrums of economic and military power are separating. Can these changes in the distribution of power occur peacefully?
在下一個十年,當中國的經濟產量最終超越美國的那一天,將是自英王喬治三世(George III)統治時期以來,首次出現世界最大經濟體的桂冠歸屬于一個非西方、非以英語為母語、且非自由民主制的國家。不過,在即將出現的不均衡世界中,美國將仍是主導性的軍事力量。經濟實力與軍事力量的支點正逐漸分開。權力分配的改變能否和平地實現?