Brzezinski on China

In another worthwhile piece I only just had a chance to read, Dan Drezner criticizes Zbigniew Brzezinski’s latest FT op/ed.

I’m don’t agree with Drezner entirely about the primacy of economics, but I share his skepticism of Brzezinski’s claim that we need to bring China in on a whole lot of other foreign policy issues. Zbig is a hell of a lot smarter than I am, but so far as I can tell, the Chinese don’t have a dog in most of these fights, and it’s hard enough negotiating solutions with the actors we’ve got already. How much can the Chinese really help? If they don’t want to wade into these swamps, what do we gain by coaxing them to do so more quickly? I’m all for China being a responsible stakeholder, and I welcome its contributions in the service of peace and stability, but so long as it continues to proceed cautiously in its relations abroad, I’m generally happy to let it move at its own pace.

After all, this is kind of like giving your kid the keys to the car, right? You’re proud of him for being able to drive, and glad he doesn’t need all those rides anymore, but now he’s got a car…