China is not going to cause World War III
However, the question as to whether these developments signal that we are on a path to World War III is difficult to answer, and the Manichean arguments put forth by officials so far do the complexity of the issue a disservice. Using history as an analytical framework to assess current issues is popular but also fraught with limitations. No two periods are exactly alike. The cases of World War I and World War II offer limited value when examining the current global crisis.
