The electric transition, and how both are reshaping U.S.–China competition, especially around autonomous driving and AI-powered vehicles.
Over the past thirty years, China’s communications industry has experienced one of the most profound structural transformations seen anywhere in the global economy. From fewer than 5 million mobile subscribers in the early 1990s to nearly 1.8 billion mobile SIM cards by December 2025, the sector has expanded beyond its origins as a basic public … Read more
I. The Zhang Weiying–Lin Yifu Debate: A Dispute Frozen in Time 1. A Clash of Perspectives, Not Competence: The Zhang Weiying vs. Lin Yifu Debate The long-standing debate between Zhang Weiying and Lin Yifu, especially their high-profile 2014 academic confrontation at the Yang Xiaokai memorial symposium, is often misconstrued as a battle of intellectual prowess. … Read more
China’s approach is deliberate, multi-layered, and strategically coordinated over decades, combining long-term planning, financial direction, state involvement, and regional execution. Crucially, it operates with an explicit awareness that unchecked financialization is corrosive, even as structural constraints prevent its full elimination. What distinguishes China is not purity, but active governance of distortion. Planning Against the Pull … Read more
Introduction: From World Factory to Technology Exporter Over the last forty years, China’s position in the global automotive industry has experienced a profound transformation. Once primarily a recipient of foreign technology in exchange for market access, China has emerged as the world’s leading hub for new energy vehicle (NEV) innovation. Today, it exports not only … Read more
I. How State-Led Capitalism Operates in Practice China’s system of state-led capitalism is best understood as a pragmatic hybrid rather than an ideological extreme. It does not resemble Soviet-style central planning, nor does it follow Western laissez-faire principles. Under normal conditions, production and allocation are largely market-driven, with firms competing, innovating, and responding to demand … Read more
I. The De Facto “G2” Economic Loop A. Mutual Benefit Through Asymmetric Global Roles For decades, the United States and China have functioned as a de facto “G2,” quietly orchestrating a global economic system that primarily serves their own interests. Their roles are complementary and asymmetric: the United States issues the world’s reserve currency, consumes … Read more
This study undertakes a critical examination of the logic behind the so-called “China global price revolution,” exploring how and why it has functioned, where it shows structural weaknesses, and under what conditions it might fail. By situating this analysis within a broader historical and economic context, the discussion considers how China’s impact on global prices … Read more
I. Reframing the “Great Divergence”: Not Race or Values, but Cost-Efficient Violence and Industrial Power 1. The Foundations of the Great Divergence: Power, Production, and Coercion The historical “Great Divergence” between the Global North and the Global South was not enabled by racial superiority, cultural refinement, or the intrinsic legitimacy of Western values. Rather, it … Read more
Huawei’s HarmonyOS, particularly HarmonyOS Next, is reshaping how overseas developers engage with its ecosystem—not through persuasion, but by making non-participation economically unviable in select regions. Rather than seeking Western approval, Huawei is focused on establishing a parallel ecosystem in which Chinese and regional apps become the default, especially across the Global South. Developers are compelled … Read more
Over the past several decades, the West—especially the United States—has drifted into what anthropologist David Graeber termed a “big idea famine,” marked by a decline in transformative innovation despite abundant capital and talent. Military and strategic technological progress has slowed as ethical hesitation, bureaucratic inertia, and weak prioritization constrain experimentation, while the civilian tech sector … Read more