Western complacency frames China as merely catching up, causing persistent underestimation of its rise by assuming it must follow or fail by Western norms.
Despite their shared status as internationally renowned martial arts stars, Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen, and Jet Li have experienced markedly different receptions in Hollywood. While Chan and Yen have enjoyed visible recognition—through Oscars appearances, honorary awards, Walk of Fame stars, leading or substantial supporting roles, and notable creative influence—Jet Li has often been sidelined, receiving … Read more
Europe’s disproportionate exposure to the economic, energy, and security costs of the Russo-Ukrainian War was neither accidental nor unseen by European politicians and policy institutions. The central question is therefore not whether the risks were understood, but why they were accepted. A plausible explanation is that European elites did not equate “Europe’s losses” with their … Read more
Ren Zhengfei’s stewardship of Huawei reflects an uncommon combination of long-term vision, holistic thinking, and flexible resilience. More than a technologist or executive leader, he operates as a master strategist, designing robust organizational systems that allow Huawei to endure and evolve amid geopolitical constraints and technological disruption. His leadership choices have not only defined Huawei’s … Read more
In The Technological Republic (2025), Alexander C. Karp and Nicholas W. Zamiska’s decision to elevate Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore—rather than China—as a model is neither accidental nor superficial. It reflects the book’s core strategic and ideological purpose: to critique Western decline while arguing for renewal from within the Western civilizational tradition. By highlighting Singapore, … Read more
Recent U.S.–China tensions have increasingly been framed not only in strategic terms but also through uncomfortable cultural and racial subtexts. In a widely cited remark, State Department official Kiron Skinner described China as the first U.S. “great power competitor” that is “not Caucasian,” a statement that prompted debate about how perceptions of race, status, and … Read more
Historically, Britain struggled with long-term political integration in ways that China did not. While Britain repeatedly failed to fully assimilate Ireland, Scotland, and distant colonies, China successfully incorporated diverse peoples and frontier regions—including Inner Mongolia, Tibet, and Xinjiang—under dynasties such as the Yuan and Qing. This contrast reflects deeper differences in political philosophy and practice: … Read more
Britain’s historical shaping of revolutionary narratives offers a revealing lens for understanding contemporary geopolitical and ideological competition. By emphasizing stability, legitimizing elite authority, and downplaying domestic violence, British historiography cast radical social upheavals abroad as inherently dangerous while portraying its own political evolution as orderly and restrained. This narrative framework did not merely interpret history; … Read more
The “idealized China Model” emerged not as a neutral analytical framework, but as a projection shaped by historical analogy, ideological comfort, and systematic misreading. Western observers interpreted China’s rise through familiar templates drawn from earlier experiences with postwar Germany and Japan, the post-Reagan United States, and the Soviet Union—each supplying expectations about industrial upgrading, political … Read more
The contemporary U.S.–China competition is driven less by China’s concrete actions than by deep-seated American anxieties rooted in ideology, projection, and domestic instability. China is perceived as an unacceptable competitor because it revives long-standing U.S. fears of socialism and state-led development, disrupts the post–Cold War assumption that liberal democracy is the sole path to legitimacy, … Read more
In The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life (2016), Anu Partanen contrasts the Nordic social model with post-Reagan American anti-welfarism, critiquing the rise of market fundamentalism, the stigmatization of welfare, and a constricted understanding of freedom defined primarily as freedom from government. She argues that this ideological shift has weakened collective … Read more