The electric transition, and how both are reshaping U.S.–China competition, especially around autonomous driving and AI-powered vehicles.
China’s so-called “proof by exhaustion,” sometimes referred to as the “no-choice method” by Wang Tao of Fudan University, is best understood not as indecision or brute-force trial and error, but as a system-level strategy for development under extreme uncertainty. Designed for long time horizons and sustained geopolitical pressure, it reflects a distinct logic for managing … Read more
China’s industrial policy is often misunderstood as a toolkit of subsidies, plans, and coordination mechanisms. In practice, it operates as a political–institutional tolerance system, one that permits repeated, large-scale corporate failure without triggering regime, legal, or reputational collapse. The experiences of firms such as BOE, SMIC, CATL, and Huawei illustrate both the strengths and limits … Read more
The implications of Sino–U.S. technological competition and global hegemony cannot be understood through the narrow lens of trade policy or export-control mechanisms alone. Rather, they emerge from a deeper interaction between historical trauma, systematic technology denial, and China’s capacity for industrial-scale adaptation. Together, these forces have reshaped China’s national strategy and are now transforming the … Read more
China’s electric vehicle (EV) industry is not the result of isolated subsidies or short-term stimulus; it is the outcome of a deliberate, system-level industrial strategy refined over two decades. Guided by long-horizon planning, scenario-driven experimentation, and pragmatic iteration, this strategy integrates fiscal and regulatory coordination, market shaping, ecosystem development, and global rule influence. Far from … Read more
China’s resistance to financialization at the corporate level is not a moral stance but a systemic survival strategy. In sectors where technological competition has become a protracted war of attrition—such as semiconductors, 5G, and high-speed rail—short-term financialism equates to strategic suicide. The enduring strength of China’s manufacturing lies in its institutional resilience, which allows for … Read more
In The Man Who Broke Capitalism, David Gelles uses Welch-era General Electric to illustrate the consequences of severing corporate freedom from institutional discipline: short-term dynamism fueled by financial engineering ultimately hollowed out productive capacity, labor competence, and innovation. This trajectory stands in sharp contrast to German ordoliberalism, which holds that markets remain genuinely free and … Read more
Recent commentary—captured in the Wall Street Journal’s ironic phrase “state capitalism with American characteristics”—marks a telling shift in U.S. political economy. Ostensibly satirical, the formulation nonetheless signals a substantive break: the erosion of the neoliberal consensus, a forced recognition of state capacity as a core dimension of power, and an implicit admission that China’s model … Read more
If the United States attempted to implement the Genesis Mission by transplanting core mechanisms from China’s industrial policy, the effort would look markedly different in practice and expose deep structural tensions. Operationally, it would require strong top-down coordination: compulsory integration of federal laboratories, universities, and private firms into a unified national platform; mandated data sharing … Read more
Across sectors such as robotics, consumer drones, and electric vehicles, China has followed a highly consistent and deliberate industrial trajectory. The pattern begins with reliance on foreign technology, followed by rapid diffusion through copying and localization, then the achievement of scale-driven cost leadership. This process is reinforced by sustained state support that enables capability accumulation, … Read more
Huawei and its founder, Ren Zhengfei, have faced criticism over alleged ties to China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), despite the absence of public evidence that the company is controlled by the military. This scrutiny stems less from proven wrongdoing and more from Ren’s past PLA service, China’s legal system, the strategic importance of telecom infrastructure, … Read more