Synopsis: A risen China is an unprecedented challenge to American power and principles. Any president would have a hard time responding effectively to Beijing’s ambitions. The difficulty is compounded by the current political crisis, in which the post-WWII consensus about the interests and values that drive American foreign policy has been lost. China is taking advantage of American confusion in predictable ways that threaten global liberal practices. Does it matter? Can Americans live as they wish if the U.S. is no longer the world’s most consequential nation?

Robert Daly is director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Woodrow Wilson Center and a former US Foreign Service officer.