The United States is widely touted as the world's Solo Superpower, but four nations -- heirs to vast empires -- harbor alternative visions of the world, as Russian President Boris Yeltsin's recent visit to China underscored. Superpower or not, the United States will do well in coming years to stay mindful of the imperial histories of China, Russia, India and Iran. PNS editor Franz Schurmann, professor emeritus of history and sociology at UC-Berkeley, is author of numerous books and articles on foreign politics.

The ever ailing Boris Yeltsin, arriving in China, growled, "You Americans better remember we've got nukes too." An aide quickly added, "He doesn't mean what he says."

Yeltsin's host Jiang Zemin doesn't growl, but almost daily his government kicks America in the shins. Even when Clinton, China's best friend in the United States, once again apologizes for bombing the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, another kick follows.

Then there is the world's biggest democracy, India, whose delegates at the Seattle debacle lambasted America for wanting to impose labor and environmental standards on poor countries. India has long been suspicious of America because of its backing of arch-foe Pakistan.

And then there is the biggest "rogue" country in the Middle East, Iran. Clinton has been eagerly wooing Iran to secure its support in stabilizing oil prices and helping out with Middle Eastern peace. Instead, the powerful hard line clerics tell the Great Satan to get lost.

What these four countries have in common is that, historically, they have been Asia's great empires. China was and remains the Empire of East Asia. With Pakistan weakening, India has become the undisputed Empire of South Asia. Iran has been the Empire of West Asia since 525 B.C. Russia was and wants again to be the Empire ("Derzhava") of North Eurasia.

In China, Yeltsin chided America for acting like an Empire of the World. And of course, that's hard to dispute. Look almost anywhere on Earth and you'll find American soldiers. A big American aircraft carrier just sailed into the Chinese port of Hong Kong. American forces have held joint maneuvers with Central Asian countries. U.S. Marines are stationed in western Uganda. Some sort of American military advisors went into East Timor with the Australians. And so on.

And there is the World Trade Organization (WTO). The General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT), an earlier name for the WTO, was one of three triplets born in 1944 at Bretton Woods, near Washington. The other two were the IMF and the World Bank. Many abroad growl we are really the American Empire on which the sun never sets. This, and a lot more, is what makes America the world's Solo Superpower.

It's clear now that "democratic" Russia is flexing its muscles. If it demolishes Chechnya, its next step is to retake control of the oil-rich Caspian region, especially Georgia and Azerbaijan. And Russia is re-asserting its presence in the Middle East, especially with its old friend Saddam Hussein.

The Russians regard China as a friendly empire. And Yeltsin is happy that Jiang Zemin speaks fluent Russian. The Chinese keep insisting that they are no empire. They point out that not a single Chinese soldier is stationed beyond Chinese borders. But, as became evident in the recent ASEAN conference in Manila, China looms very large in Southeast Asia. So does Japan, but unlike China, Japan has no ancient tradition of empire. China's claim on the Spratley Islands near Filipino shores goes back over 2000 years.

India has been an empire for almost exactly as long as China. Both were founded in the latter half of the third century B.C. Iran has been one continuously since the sixth century B.C. when Cyrus the Great founded the Persian Empire.

None of the four old empires wants directly to challenge the American Superpower. American relations with Russia, China and India are good, and Clinton himself inaugurated the current with the Islamic Republic of Iran. If even America has difficulties managing the world, none of the four even think about becoming a Darth Vaderian-style world empire. They can hardly manage themselves.

But because of history and size each is tugged outward to project its power, influence and values on the larger region to which they belong.

Russia has a traditional destiny in Eastern Europe and the Turco-Iranian Islamic world. China also has a traditional, dual destiny: one involves the other Confucian countries (Korea, Japan and Vietnam), and the other is linked to Lamaist world, Tibet and Mongolia.

India, too, has a dual destiny, one involving the countries to the east and South (Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia) and the other involving what now are Pakistan and Afghanistan. Iran, despite its predominant minority Shi'ite faith, feels linked to the entire Islamic world of one billion people.

How does the American Solo Superpower fit into the world of the four empires? When this century began all four were poor and backward; despite progress, they remain that way. On the other hand, everything America touches seems to turn into wondrous and profitable innovation, into gold. The four old empires want as much as they can get of this miracle American diet that creates so much wealth and wonders.

On the other hand they have a sense, strongly reinforced by the Seattle WTO debacle, that there is something flawed about the American magic. Goethe once said of Americans, "You're fortunate you don't have to bemoan ruined castles." Yet the traditional Asian empires are now realizing their own ruins are more than museum pieces. Their history projects a spiritual aura that brings memories and aspirations to life. And those ruins, that history, is shared within their own regions.

History is like the flow of rivers, which begin upstream and pass you on their path to the sea -- except for a few that end sterile and dry in deserts. It may turn out that the main story of the river of history in the coming century is the way the four empires and the Solo Superpower deal with each other. The possible outcomes range from wonders to horrors.