Lyle Goldstein: scholar takes sober view of China's ambitions

Robust engagement

Goldstein also believes that the US administration needs to focus more on US-China relations. "We say it's the most important relationship in the world; so let's treat it like that," he said.

To him, that includes more robust engagement and efforts across the board. For example, on the military side, it means deeper engagement other than high-level dialogue.

He is disappointed that while he has students from around the world studying at US Naval War College, none of them came from China.

"In my view, we don't just need one Chinese student, we need five or maybe even 10. That's what I call robust engagement," he said.

A post-Cold War China scholar, Goldstein does not see China through a Cold War lens. He said the young China scholars in US are quite comfortable with Chinese, the language. "We go to China a lot. We see the best of China and the worst of China," he said.

He again cited the example of high-speed trains, saying there are a lot of things that China has done better than the US. "We've seen the blemishes too, a lot. The air is polluted; the environmental situation is really bad," he said.

His children, a son and daughter, both in their early teens, are studying Chinese. "We are working on the next generation of China hands," Goldstein said in Chinese.