China and the Shadow of German History

“It would have been infinitely better if Germany could achieve its hegemonic position on the continent without two world wars. But it was not only Germany’s fault that this did not happen. True, it was Germany that forced the continental war of 1914 upon an unwilling France (and a not so unwilling Russia).

But it was – as the Kaiser rightly said – the British government which ultimately decided to turn the continental war into a world war, a conflict which lasted twice as long as and cost many more lives…

In the end, as present history proves, Germany was not stopped: it still is the main political player in Europe, but British power came to a halt. Does this sound like a recipe for what the world – or Europe and America – should do with China today?…

China is in no way a dominant country in Asia or in the world in the way Germany was at the end of the 19th century. Besides its undoubted industrial and military might, Germany was a cultural and technological dynamo, with possibly the most democratic political system and the most comprehensive welfare system in Europe and the world. All of this is unrivalled by present China in Asia or in the world…

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