America’s “New” China Narrative
According to a new narrative that has recently emerged in the United States, China is suffering economic decline, which, no less than the previous narrative about China’s inexorable rise, poses a growing global threat. Yet, in their prognoses and prescriptions, Western leaders and pundits are repeating what they said 30 years ago.
TOWNSHEND, VERMONT – Three recent articles in The New York Times have signaled a “new” narrative about China. Only weeks ago, China was America’s fearsome “peer competitor” on the world stage. But now, we are told, it is a wounded dragon. Once a threat by dint of its inexorable rise, now it poses a threat because it is in decline.