CANBERRA ¨C Diplomats and alcoholics don¡¯t always have as much in common as is sometimes assumed. But there is useful guidance for policymakers in the Reinhold Niebuhr prayer that Alcoholics Anonymous has made its own: ¡°God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.¡±
America¡¯s response to China¡¯s rise ¡ª and in particular to its assertiveness in the South China Sea ¡ª is a case in point. The United States should accept many dimensions of China¡¯s economic, and now military, growth with as much serenity as it can muster. But there are some that call for pushback, and the jury is still out on America¡¯s capacity to make the right calls.
The central, painful, reality that the U.S. must accept is that a major shift in the Asia-Pacific balance of power has already taken place. The days of America¡¯s unequivocal primacy and unilateral capacity to write the rules are over.
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