Mr Nye, a veteran observer of global affairs, is more optimistic. He expects that America will still play the central role in the global balance of power in the 2040s. What, after all, is the alternative?

In China, every province has a cultural department with cultural exchange programs that send their local artists abroad. One such is the north eastern China province of Jilin, whose Jilin Art Troupe is the highlight of the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ (CCP) Outreach Tour.

The projects reflect more than the desperate need for modern long-distance trains in Thailand. China and Japan are openly vying for economic influence in South-east Asia, though for different sets of reasons.

Now, more than a year after South Sudan’s leaders plunged their country into a nasty civil war, the nation has become something of a test of diplomacy between the United States and China, raising the question: Can Washington and Beijing turn their mutual interests in South Sudan into a shared strategy to stop the bloodshed?

For foreigners, it can be hard to understand the staggering viewership of CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala. The yearly program commanded 700 million eyeballs in 2014 and 690 million eyeballs this year, according to CNN. But cold comments online suggest that CCTV’s viewership comes less from popularity than from a captive audience.

The rising tensions between Russia and the West, especially the United States, over Ukraine provide a constant reminder of the Cold War, when the two superpowers fought proxy conflicts for spheres of influence. A key question in the current game of great power politics is whether China and Russia will form an alliance against the United States?