“China Is Not the Soviet Union”

Richard Haass has an interesting essay in this weekend’s Wall Street Journal. He looks at U.S.-China relations, Chinese ambitions and the future of American foreign policy.

Here’s one paragraph:

China can best be understood as a regional power that seeks to reduce U.S. influence in its backyard and to increase its influence with its neighbors. Beijing isn’t seeking to overturn the current world order but to increase its influence within it. Unlike the Soviet Union, China isn’t looking to impose its model on others around the globe or to control international politics in every corner of the world. And when China does reach farther afield, its instruments tend to be primarily economic.