The only country more revolutionary than the U.S. in the 21st Century will be China

■"Revolutionary China, Complacent America," op-ed by Charlene Barshevsky and Edward Gresser, Wall Street Journal, 15 September 2005, p. A20.

■"Bush Puts Iraq, China and Iran on Agenda: Nuclear issues, trade and Taiwan dominate talks in New York with China's leader," by David E. Sanger, New York Times, 14 September 2005, p. A6.

Charlene Barshevsky, former Clinton Trade Representative, writes the most amazing op-eds. Her one on the Middle East's poor trade connectivity two years ago that I ended up using in PNM was-pound for pound-one of the two best op-eds I have ever read (the other was one years ago by military historian Trevor DuPuy on the decreasing salience of war in the international environment).

This is another one that lands her (and her co-writer this time) in my all-time top ten-it's that clear and crisp and just plain smart.

First, she points out what China is doing right: 1) drawing most of its foreign direct investment (two-thirds) from fellow Asians, effectively creating an Asian Union centered on China; 2) building up its human capital like crazy (as we saw in The New Map Game, China's "flow of people" assets are its biggest source of power); and 3) saving like crazy.

In contrast, the U.S. needs to: 1) start saving more; 2) build up its competitiveness; 3) make sure it does not get shut out of Asia economically (which is why I argue for strategic military alliance with China now more than ever); and 4) America must restructure its economic relationship with China (intensified engagement) and help China restructure its entire relationship with the world (a theme of mine in BFA; for example, the authors say China should be added as a permanent member to the G-8 (as #9 alone with #10 South Korea).

Great piece. Not an ounce of fat in it.

Bush should have had it on his lap as reading notes when he sat down with Hu yesterday at the UN.

Biggest point Charlene and her co-author make is that China is generating new rules throughout the global economy. This is my favorite theme of BFA: the New Core sets the New Rules.