The age of American global dominance is ending. In recent years, risky economic and foreign policies have steadily eroded the power structure in place since the Cold War. And now, staggering under a huge burden of debt, the country must make some tough choices--or watch its creditors walk away....

The article looks to the status of Portugal-China bilateral relations in the context of an enormous trade deficit, the fading of Portuguese economic interests in Macao and China, and the removal of China as a vector of Portugal foreign policy. The author stresses that the causes of the...