America tried to rule Asia by force, China will lead us peacefully

David Ignatius of the Washington Post adopts a Western attitude with all its prejudices. When the United States had unrivalled economic, scientific and military power, Washington tried hard to rule the world, waging war in Vietnam, pushing Thailand and Cambodia to call elections and forcibly ousting Saddam and Gaddafi from power in Iraq and Libya, causing ongoing chaos in those countries.
The idea that the US has been far more damaging to Asian countries than China was put forward by former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad in a 2013 interview with The Nation’s Suthichai Yoon (“Mahathir: We need a regional currency, but poor states must be able to protect themselves”, The Nation, September 23, 2013).
“We have  been trading with China for almost 2,000 years,” Mahathir told Suthichai. “China was very big and was a most developed country in the past. They could have conquered, but they didn’t. They came and lived in Malaysia but they didn’t conquer us. The Europeans came in 1509 … to Malacca. Two years later, they came with a fleet and conquered us. 
“I’m more worried about the European attitude than the Chinese attitude, and I don’t want to be involved in any confrontation with China.”
If it continues to prosper in economic, scientific and technological terms, China will indeed eventually lead the world. But it will not rule it.
 Prasan Stianrapapongs
Pattaya