Is China challenging the United States for global leadership?
Xi Jinping talks of a “China solution”, without specifying what that means
AS DONALD TRUMP prepares to welcome Xi Jinping next week for the two men’s first face-to-face encounter, both countries are reassessing their place in the world. They are looking in opposite directions: America away from shouldering global responsibilities, China towards it. And they are reappraising their positions in very different ways. Hare-like, the Trump administration is dashing from one policy to the next, sometimes contradicting itself and willing to box any rival it sees. China, tortoise-like, is extending its head cautiously beyond its carapace, taking slow, painstaking steps. Aesop knew how this contest is likely to end.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Tortoise v hare”
From the April 1st 2017 edition
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Wegovy hits the People’s Republic, at last
China mainlines “Musk’s miracle medicine”, at a fraction of the cost in America
China’s government is badgering women to have babies
It is testing an expanded pro-natalist playbook
China suffers eruptions from its simmering discontents
Amid random violence and increasing protests, fears mount for social stability
Trump, trade and feeding China’s pigs
As a trade war looms, China looks to cut its reliance on America
Helping America’s hawks get inside the head of Xi Jinping
China’s leader is a risk-taker. How far will he go in confronting America?
Snuffing out the flame of freedom in Hong Kong
Dozens of pro-democracy activists are thrown into jail for up to a decade