From Fareed Zakaria’s recent article entitled “How to Handle China”

The greatest failure of Western foreign policy since the cold war ended has been a sin of omission. We have not pursued a foreign policy toward the world’s newly rising powers that aims to create new and enduring relations with them, integrate them into existing structures of power and lay out new rules of the road to secure peace and prosperity. If the emerging countries grow strong outside the old order, they will freelance and be unwilling to help build a new one. The new world might well be the same as the old—the 19th-century world, that is, marked by economic globalization, political nationalism and war.

Zakaria is a talented writer, but I disagree with his assertion that the West has failed to reach out to rising powers, particularly China. Diplomatic engagement is a two-way street, and China has been reluctant to partner with the West. Its campaign to deceive the international community about its defense expenditures is especially problematic.

Moreover, Zakaria’s article fails to deliver what its title promises. He proposes no real solutions for policymakers grappling with how to understand China’s behavior.