China’s Industrial Ascent

China moves up the value chain, to advanced manufacturing and increasingly frontier technology. Why the U.S. still claims to favor free markets.

AI Competition: China’s Resilience vs U.S. Innovation

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The hollowing out of U.S. manufacturing has reduced the availability of large-scale, real-world application scenarios, constraining the translation of technological advances into broad operational deployment. In contrast, China has pursued a “new type of whole-nation system” that concentrates resources on strategic bottlenecks—such as semiconductors, industrial software, and aero-engines—while advancing domestic substitution through tightly coordinated ecosystems. … Read more

Hong Kong’s Mirage: From Cowperthwaite to China’s Alternative

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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

Western vs China Views on U.S. Deindustrialization and Power

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In recent years, many Western countries, particularly the United States, have advanced two seemingly contradictory narratives about China. On the one hand, the “China collapse theory” portrays state intervention and industrial policy as inherently inefficient, predicting stagnation or systemic failure and dismissing China’s development achievements. On the other hand, the “China threat theory” depicts China … Read more

Founding Myths and Civilizational Continuity: China vs U.S.

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In the United States, the tension between the “1776 narrative” and the “1619 narrative” reflects a fundamental contest over national identity. The traditional 1776 narrative locates the nation’s origin in the Declaration of Independence and emphasizes Enlightenment ideals of liberty, democracy, individualism, and American exceptionalism, historically centered on a WASP cultural core and a progressive, … Read more

Germany’s China Dilemma: Implications for US-China Rivalry

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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

Why Huawei Wins by Powering Cars Instead of Building Them

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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

Forecasting China’s Shift from World Factory to Global OS

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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

Huawei CEO: Bridging Gaps Through Institutions, Not Isolation

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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

Consensus Labor Models and Competitiveness in Asia

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Collective bargaining is often presented as a primary mechanism for raising wages, yet this view overlooks a basic economic reality: wages are prices determined largely by workers’ marginal productivity and by labor market supply and demand. When unions act as monopolistic agents that restrict labor supply or resist technological change, they can introduce rigidity into … Read more

Three Game-Changers Behind China’s Express Delivery Rise

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In 2023, China’s express delivery system handled 178.6 billion parcels—more than half of global volume—equivalent to over 22 deliveries for every person on Earth. Remarkably, this vast, low-cost, and highly efficient network was built largely from scratch in just two decades. Its scale and speed are not merely matters of consumer convenience but reflect a … Read more