Are you prepared to be number two?

The time has come to think the unthinkable: the era of American dominance in international affairs may well be coming to an end. As that moment approaches, the main question will be how well the United States is prepared for it.Asia's rise over the past few decades is more than a story of rapid economic growth. It is the story of a region undergoing a renaissance in which people's minds are reopened and their outlook refreshed. Asia's movement toward resuming its former central role in the global economy has so much momentum that it seems virtually unstoppable.....

Americans need to be told a simple, mathematical truth. With 3% of the world's population, the US can no longer dominate the rest of the world, because Asians, with 60% of the world's population, are no longer underperforming. But the belief that America is the only virtuous country, the sole beacon of light in a dark and unstable world, continues to shape many Americans' world view. American intellectuals' failure to challenge these ideas _ and to help the US population shed complacent attitudes based on ignorance _ perpetuates a culture of coddling the public.
But, while Americans tend to receive only good news, Asia's rise is not really bad news. The US should recognise that Asian countries are seeking not to dominate the West, but to emulate it. They seek to build strong and dynamic middle classes and to achieve the kind of peace, stability and prosperity that the West has long enjoyed.
This deep social and intellectual transformation under way in Asia promises to catapult it from economic power to global leadership. China, which remains a closed society in many ways, has an open mind, whereas the US is an open society with a closed mind. With Asia's middle class set to skyrocket from roughly 500 million people today to 1.75 billion by 2020, the US will not be able to avoid the global economy's new realities for much longer.


US entering Asian century with eyes closed | Bangkok Post: opinion