As Michael Pillsbury wrote in his book, The Hundred Years Marathon, this had always been the aim of  China’s leaders from the very beginning of the rapprochement with President  Nixon. But the Chinese had kept their ambitions secret, until now. Having become the number two economy of the world, with a well-equipped and sophisticated modern army and enough funds to launch an ambitious belt and road initiative to spread Chinese influence around the world, President Xi Jinping is ready to take on the task of making China the foremost world power.