The Columbus–China Syndrome: Why Western Policy Keeps Misreading China
The West reads China through its own expectations rather than on China’s own terms, a habit that produces unstable policy and constant swings between admiration and fear.
The West reads China through its own expectations rather than on China’s own terms, a habit that produces unstable policy and constant swings between admiration and fear.
If we want the next generation of Americans and Chinese to manage their differences responsibly, we should give them opportunities to know one another before they inherit the responsibility of managing the relationship.
For Washington to rethink its China policy means dropping the lingering zero-sum Cold War mentality.
These actions created the foundation for more reliable economic cooperation and signaled a move away from the uncertainty of previous years.
General Motors will continue China-based production of Chevrolet cars for export, but the transformations that have occurred in China are taking place globally.
Western media outlets often describe China’s growing influence as a revival of the imperial ‘tribute system.’ Yet, this framing reveals more about how the West thinks of power than about how Beijing exercises it.
Over eight decades ago, American and Chinese crews flew “the Hump” together, a deadly Himalayan airlift that helped sustain China in the war against Japanese aggression. Some flew the route and never came home. Others returned and carried its weight quietly for life.
The real question worth asking is not which country trained on whose data. It is a question of which model actually provides better AI benefits.
Public opinion signals that while influence maintained by political pressure and bloc confrontation is fragile and short-lived, economic and trade cooperation based on market demand and long-term stability can be solid and enjoy popular support.
As demand for digital connectivity continues to expand worldwide, the 6G race is likely to be shaped less by exclusion and more by who can build the most effective technologies, industries and applications.
Rather than spending energy fabricating tales to discredit a rival, it’s far better to pour that energy into getting one’s own work right, in turn creating a more attractive, bigger picture.
China’s position and influence in the world is changing rapidly with the effects of projects such as the Belt and Road Initiative being witnessed first in developing countries.