China reminds us that they stepped in the ring two decades ago

Danger Room via Aviation Week and Space Technology reports that China's air defense system is gaining potency by employing both cheap and stolen electronic defense parts (courtesy of the United States). For some reason Russia is the measuring stick for technological air defense by an adversary-thank you Reagan- so it is noted that the threat of China's system is much greater than that of the poor, "democratic" Russian system. This serves as a blaring reminder of the relevance of Chinese policy to international affairs.

This essay by Wayne Bert does a good job outlining Organski's power transition theory and China's possible challenge to US hegemony in the future. Organski argues that international order is established not in anarchy, as neo-liberals and realists alike assume, but in a heirarchical structure with one dominant nation that establishes international norms and even sometimes culture (i.e. US and democracy, freedom, international institutions; Britain and industrialization). Organski made a prediction in the '60s that China poses the most likely threat to US dominance and that once China's markets expand they could supersede the US in global dominance. China's markets are predicted to surpass the US by 2020. Not to mention that the US has borrowed billions from China. Yet most international sources of news and scholar neglect this situation, but that will probably change once China is powerful enough to be more boisterous.