While America slept, China became indispensable

Washington has long ignored much of the world. Beijing hasn’t. Westerners have oversubscribed to the notion that modernity and progress naturally flow from their Westernness and that the regular order of things is for them to lead and for others to follow. Still, current geopolitics proves this isn’t true. Howard W. French argues that China has stepped in to become the leading bilateral foreign provider of public goods and what this will mean for the U.S. in the future.