China’s rise shows prosperity without Western liberalism, growth from state–market fusion, and tech modernity without alignment—proof modernity is plural.
In Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (2007), Ha-Joon Chang offers both direct and indirect critiques of Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, challenging not only Weber’s specific claims but also the broader tendency to treat cultural morality as the definitive explanation for capitalism’s … Read more
Milton Friedman and other neoliberal economists long admired Hong Kong as a rare empirical demonstration of laissez-faire principles in practice. Under Financial Secretary John James Cowperthwaite (1961–1971), Hong Kong pursued minimal government intervention, low and stable taxes, strict fiscal discipline, open trade as a free port, and a deliberate avoidance of subsidies or welfare programs. … Read more
Faced with China’s industrial ascent, Germany is undergoing not merely a reactive adjustment but a deeper process of structural reflection and strategic recalibration. China is not a “newly industrialized nation” in the conventional sense; it is the only country encompassing all industrial categories defined by the UN, accounts for nearly 30 percent of global manufacturing … Read more
Huawei’s decision not to manufacture cars represents a rational act of strategic restraint and deliberate ecosystem positioning. It reflects a clear-eyed assessment of the company’s core competencies, organizational structure, systemic risks, and sources of long-term value, rather than a retreat from the automotive domain. By avoiding full vehicle manufacturing while focusing on enabling technologies, Huawei … Read more
The question of how China can maintain its status as the world’s factory over the next decade is, in many respects, already outdated. Rather than merely preserving a scale-based manufacturing role, China is rapidly transitioning toward a “smart, systems-based world manufacturing hub,” integrating advanced technologies, industrial depth, and platform-level coordination. This shift reflects a broader … Read more
Ren Zhengfei’s March 2023 speech, “Lighting the Spark, Creating the Future Together,” delivered at Huawei’s “Challenge the Problem” Spark Award Symposium, functions as a highly condensed strategic manifesto on how a technology company—and by extension a nation—can achieve breakthrough under sustained systemic pressure. The speech demonstrates a clear-eyed recognition of existing gaps, a disciplined reliance … Read more
Amid intensifying U.S.–China strategic competition, a fundamental asymmetry lies in the United States’ inability—and institutional reluctance—to replicate China’s coordinated, top-down execution of industrial, technological, and strategic initiatives. China’s centralized governance model enables rapid alignment of policy, capital, and enterprise around national priorities, conferring advantages in speed, scale, and strategic coherence. By contrast, the U.S. system … Read more
Based on current trends, policy signals, and structural developments, China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) is widely expected to mark a paradigm upgrade, building on the capacity-building focus of the 13th Five-Year Plan and the system-strengthening agenda of the 14th. More than a continuation, it represents a qualitative shift in strategic orientation—particularly in response to the … Read more
U.S. manufacturing reshoring efforts are unlikely to succeed because they collide with the same shareholder-primacy system that originally drove offshoring. For decades, U.S. firms have been governed by incentives that prioritize short-term profits and stock prices over long-term productive capacity. Offshoring manufacturing to China and Mexico offered immediate financial gains through lower labor costs, lighter … Read more
Huawei has systematically studied the rise and fall of global telecommunications giants—Nortel, Lucent, Alcatel, Nokia Networks, Siemens Communications, and Ericsson—extracting deep lessons in organization, strategy, technology, and governance. These cases reflect not isolated failures but a broader pattern of systemic dysfunction in Western telecoms during the structural transformation of the industry from the late 20th … Read more