Future interests and illegal conditions and restraints, by Albert M. Kales

Interestingly, in China the latter are often associated with the term вЂhegemony’, which is used pejoratively to describe big power behaviour — once the Soviet Union, now the United States — in contrast to вЂharmony’ which is seen as enabling and embracing difference. In considering the future relationship between China and its East Asian neighbours, it is pertinent to take into account not only the historical legacy of the tributary system but also what might be described as the realpolitik of size. This was clearly a significant aspect of the tributary system, but it is an even more powerful factor in the era of globalization and the modern nation-state. China is anxious to emphasize its desire to exercise self-restraint and respect for the interests of other states, but in the longer run, on the assumption that China continues its economic rise, the disparity between China and the other nations in the region is likely to become ever more pronounced over time. It is not difficult to imagine a scenario in which the inequality between the power of China and that of neighbouring states will be rather greater than that to be found in any other region of the world ...»