[ceilingcorner]

Every time I see events like this happen, I get extremely skeptical of the idea that China will somehow replace the US as leader of the world. I’m not sure if I’m justified in thinking so, but I just cannot imagine actions like this leading to a creative, innovative culture.

[ricardobayes]

There's no single leader of the world, it's all about local influence. It has always been and probably will be bipolar. Geographical closeness, and trade and cultural/language export have the most impact.

[thablackbull]

If I say that I'm not sure how students who live in a climate of fear and need to practice active shooter drills after every school shooting can lead to a creative and innovative culture, do you think that holds?

[mantas]

Better question is do we need creative and innovative culture. It's rather destructive when everyone wants to be a creator and nobody is willing to do hard not-so-fancy jobs. Somebody has to do plumbing and install electricity for all the influnkers and utubers.

Obviously there's a need for a small portion of pioneers. But should society aim for mass creativity or just highlight those who cannot not create.

[birdyrooster]

CCP don’t want to lead the world. CCP needs to lead China through all means necessary and global trade is necessary for that.

[refurb]

“ In his three-and-a-half-hour political report to the Party’s 2,300 top officials, Xi laid out a vision for China to lead the world in everything from science and technology, to modern weaponry and military might, to providing a model of economic development and governance for other countries to follow.”

https://apcoworldwide.com/blog/xi-jinpings-new-era-of-global...

[gwd]

The problem is two different meanings of "lead"; one simply means "being in front", like in a race; another means, "Guiding and directing coordination of a large group of people". The first is completely individual; the second is collaborative.

"Leading the world in science and technology" means "having more advanced science and technology than the rest of the world"; and even "providing a model" means, "letting people copy it if they feel like it". That's all completely about China.

When people talking about the US leading the world, it's more about guidance and influence over coordinated action; NATO, climate change, IMF, WHO, etc. That's something China as a country has never been particularly interested in.

Imagine, for instance, China trying to arrange sanctions in response to something. They're not even close to having that kind of influence, and they're not particularly trying.

[zarzavat]

That’s just lip service. If you judge him by his actions then he’s heavily optimizing for personal power, not national interest or prosperity.