China moves up the value chain, to advanced manufacturing and increasingly frontier technology. Why the U.S. still claims to favor free markets.
In America’s Cold War Against China: Destined to Fail (2025), Peter Nolan argues that the West’s failure to recognize the profound historical and cultural differences between China and Russia—treating China merely as a “Soviet copy”—resulted in serious strategic miscalculations[1]. He contends that China’s rise should not be viewed as an anomaly within the modern international … Read more
China pursued an industrial strategy that emphasized protecting national sovereignty, learning progressively, and implementing changes gradually, in stark contrast to countries that opted for rapid liberalization and consequently lost influence over their industrial development. Sovereignty and Control Over Foreign Capital China has consistently prioritized maintaining national sovereignty in its economic development, in contrast to countries … Read more
The U.S. often supports a nation to act as a balance against a perceived threat. As time passes, that nation may grow in economic, military, and political power. Consequently, the assistance meant to protect U.S. interests can end up creating a future rival. Geography and Strategic Inexperience The United States has historically benefited from a … Read more
During the 1990s, Western attention gradually moved from Russia to China. This wasn’t a sudden change, but a slow realignment shaped by the Cold War’s end, the forces of globalization, and the growing recognition that China’s rise would have a much greater global impact than Russia’s waning influence. Immediate Post-Cold War Context The collapse of … Read more
China’s first homegrown third-generation (3G) wireless telecom standard, TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), marked a strategic shift in the country’s telecommunications landscape. Prior to TD-SCDMA, China relied on foreign standards such as WCDMA from Europe and CDMA2000 from the United States. By developing its own 3G standard, China gained greater control over key … Read more
TD-SCDMA (Time Division–Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) was China’s domestically developed 3G mobile communication standard, created in the early 2000s as part of a national effort to strengthen technological self-reliance and reduce dependence on foreign firms such as Qualcomm, Nokia, and Ericsson. Though it never achieved global dominance, TD-SCDMA represented a pivotal experiment in China’s … Read more
In Powerful, Different, Equal: Overcoming the Misconceptions and Differences Between China and the US (2019), Peter B. Walker argues that China’s absence of public elections for top officials does not equate to a dictatorship, as is often assumed in the West. Rather, the country functions as a complex meritocratic system, where the authority of leaders … Read more
By pursuing pluralistic learning and strategic integration, China avoided dependence on foreign technology and developed its own high-tech systems. By the 2010s, this approach had enabled the country to move beyond its role as a low-cost manufacturer, emerging as a front-runner in selected advanced technologies. China’s Path to Technological Independence Through Strategic Innovation China’s technological … Read more
In Powerful, Different, Equal: Overcoming the Misconceptions and Differences Between China and the US (2019), Peter B. Walker argues that each country is deeply rooted in its own governance model, making it unrealistic to expect one to adopt the other’s system or worldview. He emphasizes that fostering mutual understanding, rather than enforcing conformity, is essential … Read more
In Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism, Ha-Joon Chang argues that corruption extends beyond individual misconduct to encompass systemic injustice within the global economic order.[1] He contends that this system privileges multinational corporations and financial elites while undermining the developmental autonomy of poorer nations. Moreover, the moral rhetoric … Read more