Church bells rang on Sunday morning, Aug. 23, 1914 in the Belgian city of Mons — an industrial town that stood in the way of the advancing German army’s plan to crush the British Expeditionary Force.

Few can deny that China has had a particularly challenging year. In an effort to augment its sovereignty claims over what it considers as its national “blue soil,” China has inadvertently encouraged a growing number of nations to coalesce…