James Fallows at the SILF, on China:

Fallows sees his current "assignment" as explaining to the USA how to understand, accept and deal with (in the most inoffensive sense) the rise of China as a new economic, military, social power. There are four main challenges in explaining this to an English-speaking readership, trying to explain:

1. The nature of internal controls in China. Chinese don't live under an East German regime. Controls are of a mixed nature, strong in some areas, virtually non-existent in others.
2. The novelty of the Chinese "model". The Chinese as an economic power will have consequences for the rest of the world, some disruptive, others easier to accept.
3. Irrelevance of US images of China. Example: is China democratizing? This has analogues in China (inner-party democracy, civil participation), but doesn't really apply.
4. Absorbing a rising economic power. This challenge is unique to the US. China's rise is real, but no need to panic. Difficult for US-ians who like to "ignore a place or fear it."

Pics on Flickr tonight. Good to see NM and AC there.