Why China wants to be a risk
European leaders, meanwhile, call for de-risking but not decoupling
De-risking is an ugly name for an interesting idea. When explaining how they hope to manage future relations with China, a growing number of Western leaders describe some version of risk management. This approach is presented as a middle path between the impossible—ie, trying to contain or isolate a country of China’s size and importance—and the intolerable—namely, dependency on an autocracy that often bullies smaller countries.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “What “de-risking” China means”
From the April 22nd 2023 edition
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