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Six reasons China’s rise won’t trigger a world war, as Germany’s had done a century ago
Exactly a century ago, on June 28, 1914, the assassination of the archduke of the Austro-Hungarian empire in Sarajevo triggered World War I.
In Asia, the rise of China and territorial disputes between China and its neighbours have raised concerns that Europe's past could become Asia's future.
The Economist has warned that in East Asia "disputes about clumps of rock could become as significant as the assassination of an archduke". Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has compared current China-Japan tensions with the German-British rivalry before World War I.
American philosopher George Santayana wrote: "Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it." But the use of historical analogies can be deceptive unless one recognises what has changed as much as what has not.
Let's consider six main differences between Europe of 1914 and Asia of 2014.
First, Europe in 1914 was multipolar; the world in 2014 is better described as a multiplex — thatis, multiple great powers bound together by complex forms of restraint and interdependence.
Read on... at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Six-reasons-Chinas-rise-wont-trigger-a-world-war-as-Germanys-had-done-a-century-ago/articleshow/37337660.cms
