China and the US

I heard a great commentary on NPR's Marketplace tonight on my way home from work tonight. The main thrust of the commentary was that we have no right to demand that China do anything less regarding their national defense than we do regarding ours. And it struck me, once again, how unbelievably vain the US now seems to the rest of the world. We seemingly have the right to tell other countries "Do as I say, not as I do." Now, I remember when I was growing up that this was one of my father's greatest lines. It works great on 8 year olds. But when you're talking world politics, it seems that a little more maturity would be called for. At least, for anyone but the current administration. From the commentary"

• Americans take it for granted that the US has the right to act as the world's sole superpower; but what about China?
• "Few abroad would conced to the US the carte blanche it desires"
• "Why does the US spend as much on its military as the rest of the world put together?"
• China has the right to ask "who elected the US global policeman?"
• "The Chinese will take the US behavior and the principles that underlie it as the moral norms of the international system"

I don't know about you, but that last bullet point scares me. Update: if you don't have RealPlayer, I don't think you'll be able to listen to the commentary. I just got it, and it was a royal pain. Sorry for the problems :(.