China is no global hero. It would be an oversimplification to argue that these first forays into diplomatic leadership can fully counter the United States' deeply rooted legacy of engagement. And Beijing brings to the table a very different kind of leadership: still ruthless, still burdened by its refusal to confront its own human rights abuses. But the trajectory is meaningful. Already, for the child born in Kazakhstan today, one world power's leadership will be evident, and the other's will not. Already, from Sudan to Pakistan, I have spoken to young people who grew up with more visible and aggressively branded Chinese infrastructure. If China can mature as a diplomatic power as rapidly as it has as a force for economic development, America will have ceded one of the most important way in which great powers shape the world.

- pg. 293

 

I finished the book but I had to go back and share this section with you.