Economist, Nov 15, 2014 (III)

choi

(3) The future of the region | Merchants or Missionaries? The big powers in the Pacific need to be pragmatic, not dogmatic.
www.economist.com/news/special-r ... gmatic-merchants-or

three consecutive paragraphs:

" they [US and China] appear to be drifting further apart. As the Chinese see it, America is becoming increasingly bossy, and as the Americans see it, China is becoming a bully with its neighbours, some of whom are loyal American allies. * * *

"Wang Gungwu, chairman of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, says China is particularly irritated by America’s sense of the immutability of its superpower status, especially in a region that China has historically considered its own sphere of influence. He acknowledges that America freed the region from Japanese imperialism and stopped the spread of communism, but in China’s eyes that does not entitle it to an eternal hegemony in its backyard. It would like its own status as a rising power to be registered. 'The idea of the status quo for ever and ever is so alien to the Chinese way of thinking. Throughout their history the only norm is change.'

"Another source of tension is rules. For China and other parts of Asia the idea that Western rules on issues like freedom of the seas, democracy and human rights are set in stone is anathema, says Mr Wang. 'Nothing is absolute, everything is negotiable.' * * *

My comment:
(a) There is no need to read the rest.
(b) Wang Gungwu  王赓武
zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%8E%8B%E8%B5%93%E6%AD%A6
(1930年出生于荷属东印度（今印尼）泗水 [Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city by poplation and on the eastern end of Java island]; 目前為中華民國（臺灣）中央研究院院士及新加坡國立大學特級教授)

The en.wikipedia.org says he is Australian without expanation.