What will China's role be in the international order five, 10 or 15 years from now? This is undoubtedly one of the defining questions in global affairs today, because whichever way we attempt an answer — whether we expect Chinese power to grow or to diminish, and how — will say a great deal about our expectations not only for China as a state and society but also for the future of international political, economic and institutional systems . A world in which Chinese power continues to expand and in which Chinese-led international institutions proliferate and take root would be very different from one in which China recedes from the geopolitical limelight or acquiesces to the norms of the existing order.