We are in treacherous times. Everyone seems to agree: From U.S. statesman Henry Kissinger to former U.S. President Barack Obama to former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, all have recently said that the current time is an ominous one. U.S. President Donald Trump has created disarray in the global order. Brexit looks increasingly impossible to deliver smoothly. Even countries as spick and span in their orderliness as Sweden have swung toward the more extreme spectrum in their politics. Suddenly the 1990s and the 2000s seem very straightforward. The era of the populists is looking increasingly clamorous and fractious, with the political temperature rising almost as precipitously as the physical one under the impact of climate change.
A distinctive factor of the current era is the new prominence and importance China enjoys. It might sound counterintuitive, but the fact that the United States and others are now focusing on China is a sign of this: It validates and confirms the country's importance and status. Were China still a middle-ranking place, it would not figure so much in the global language of discontent and expectation. But now China has reached the major power club. And to welcome it, the world has prepared a long list of demands and complaints. Sometimes the old curse is very true: be wary of what you wish for; it might happen.
No one denies that in the long term, things look good for the People's Republic. The democratic world has never looked more vexed and troubled. Yesterday's stable systems look like they have run out of answers today. Populations are divided, and there seems to be no consensus. In Beijing and Moscow, strong, centralized politics seems to be winning. But Chinese leaders — with their powerful sense of history and appreciation of its immense length and complexity — would be wise to pause and consider before they take their next step.