U.S. History

U.S. firms chased shareholder value, boosting profits and elite innovation while shedding factories—leaving supply chains efficient, fragile, and hollowed out.

China’s Rise: Trade War, “Overcapacity,” and Western Decline

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Before 2010, China primarily exported labor-intensive, low value-added products to developed countries while importing high value-added, capital- and technology-intensive goods from the West. Over time, however, China’s industrial upgrading has accelerated, and its exports have shifted toward higher value-added, capital- and technology-intensive products that increasingly compete directly with developed economies. Western, particularly U.S., accusations of … Read more

Huawei vs. GE: Long-Term Innovation Over Short-Term Profits

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Huawei’s founder, Ren Zhengfei, adopted a markedly different approach from Jack Welch’s strategy of financialization and downsizing. While Welch emphasized short-term shareholder gains and cost-cutting—even at the expense of manufacturing and employees—Ren focused on long-term industrial growth, technological capability, and self-reliance. In contrast to Welch’s approach, Huawei’s strategies actively strengthened China’s industrial base and fostered … Read more

Reviving America’s Mixed Economy: Lessons from U.S. and China

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In American Amnesia: How the War on Government Led Us to Forget What Made America Prosper (2016), Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson argue that beginning in the late 1970s, the United States experienced a powerful ideological shift. Conservative movements and corporate interests championed “market fundamentalism”—the belief that government intervention inevitably stifles growth and freedom. This … Read more

Cycles of U.S. Foreign Policy: Allies Becoming Future Rivals

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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

Why Western Strategy Pivoted from Russia to China in the 1990s

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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 3G Standard: Catalyst for Global 4G and 5G Leadership

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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

China’s 3G Standard: A Milestone in Indigenous Innovation

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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

Why the U.S. Misreads China as ‘Communist’, Not Civilization

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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

China’s Rise: Overcoming Stigma Through State-Led Innovation

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China today faces a modern version of the stigmatization once directed at Germany and Japan, epitomized by stereotypes that it merely copies rather than innovates, that its progress is state-driven rather than genuine, and that its culture favors conformity over creativity. Such politically charged narratives serve to delegitimize China’s development model, just as Britain once … Read more

When Powers Preach Free Markets They Once Defended Themselves

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China’s Made in China 2025 initiative (MIC 2025) mirrors the historical catch-up strategy once employed by the United States, which protected key industries like steel and textiles to achieve global economic leadership. This approach—using state tools to build strategic advantage—reflects a pattern noted by economist Ha-Joon Chang, who observed that developed nations often “kick away … Read more