Great article in the NY Times worth checking out, “China, Shy Giant, Shows Signs of Shedding Its False Modesty.”

The article argues that China has largely stopped denying that it intends to become a major world power. If true, this is a significant shift away from Deng Xiaoping’s famous exhortation and dictum for China to “hide its ambitions and disguise its claws.”

For me, though, the more interesting question is not so much whether China perceives itself as a player (or is no longer humble about again becoming a player), but whether China is really ready for the big time on a number of fronts. I.e., what is China’s true potential and is it living up to that potential?

For example, the China Law blog and the Jottings from the Granite Studio blog recently ran great posts using a wonderful metaphor — NBA basketball player Yao Ming — to analyze this question.

Since Yao Ming arrived in the league, he has been viewed by most as soft and lacking the killer instinct that the Jordans, Magics, Birds and Millers of the NBA world are famous for. True, this past month Yao has stepped up his game and level of intensity, but check out this block on You Tube of Yao Ming (7′6″) by Nate Robinson (5′9″) of the NY Knicks. Ouch! The ultimate humilation for a big man.

In your view is this metaphor more of an accurate description of where China really is on the world stage right now? Do you yet know enought to say? If it is accurate, how many (or few) years before you predict that China will become legit on all meaningful economic and geopolitical fronts? And what will that mean for your kids?