China’s Communist Party has a new agenda: it is encouraging people to discuss what it means to be a major world power and has largely stopped denying that China intends to become one soon. (free registration required)

Interesting that the NYTimes is saying that China now considers itself a “superpower.” My impression has always been that most Chinese feel that China has never stopped being a world power. As a matter of fact, the Chinese word for China is Zhongguo (or Middle Kingdom) which suggests the Chinese view that the Chinese nation (and all things Chinese) has held a central/important position on the world stage since…forever. Indeed, as anyone that has spent some time in China can attest to, China is an ultra-chauvinistic country at heart. I guess the only difference now is that it is more willing to say it openly and outside the “Great Wall.” There is no doubt that China’s rise will happen. The problem that I see is that China will be a “sore winner.” What I mean by that is…contrary to what many in the West might think…it won’t sit by and defer to other nation’s lead (as it has done so masterfully albeit strategically in the the recent past) or be the “responsible stakeholder” with a devotion to a “harmony” that the CCP wants others to believe. China has been chomping at the bit to get to this position and I think will use its power and position to push for what it wants as well as serve up some cold payback to those it feels did it wrong in the past. Look out world…there’s a new bully in the playground.

China Shows Signs of Shedding Modesty