A few years ago, a Chinese leader in his 70s asked me, “Do you believe our position on peaceful rise?” I answered, “I do – but with one caveat. Your generation has been through the anti-Japanese war, the Civil War, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, the Gang of Four, and now the Open Door policy. You know there are numerous pitfalls, and that for China to go up the escalator without mishap, you need stability internally, and peace externally.
