<div style="margin:0 auto; padding:0; text-align:center;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="background-color: #f5f5f5; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="width:100%; margin:0 auto; text-align:left; background:#fff"><tbody><tr><td><div><table class="noBorder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="background: #fff"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:5% 3.5%"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="50px" style="display:block; padding-top:10px;"><a href="http://sco.lt/6ulRwG?track_p_id=8dPnO2bdY95TyRC_4IcywMe" target="_blank" title="SourceLogo" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 0px solid #008dc8!important;"><img height="50px" width="auto" alt="SourceLogo" src="https://img.scoop.it/7KGu9avQ907v_ElAKaEqeEi__cjguAuwrRM5-qsdIhQ=" style="border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius:10%; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19); width:auto;"></a></td><td width="100%" style="padding-left:5%; color:#001544; font-size:27px; line-height:41px; font-weight:700; font-family: 'Lato'"><a href="http://sco.lt/6ulRwG?track_p_id=7vQElqRk95TyRC_ZHJcfxpc" style="color:#001544; text-decoration: none; border-bottom:none;" target="_blank">'Is China experiencing an advance of the state sector?'</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="background: #fff"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding: 0 3.5%;"><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 14px;line-height: 24px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-block-start: 0!important;margin-block-end: 0!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Andrew Batson's Blog</strong></h3><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 14px;line-height: 24px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-block-start: 0!important;margin-block-end: 0!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Andrew Batson</strong> | Gavekal Dragonomics</h3><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, serif;font-weight: normal;color: #001544;display: block;border-left: 5px solid #ddd;padding-left: 1rem;margin-left: 1.2rem;margin-right: 1.5rem;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;margin-top: 1.25rem!important;margin-bottom: 1rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">BIG IDEA |</strong> ‘The value-added produced by state-owned enterprises has usually been in the range of 25-30% of China’s GDP. And what’s really striking about those numbers is that they just haven’t changed very much over the past 25 years. The share of China’s economic output being produced by SOEs today, under Xi Jinping, is not significantly different than it was under Hu Jintao, or even in the later years of Jiang Zemin.’</blockquote><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, serif;font-weight: normal;color: #001544;display: block;border-left: 5px solid #ddd;padding-left: 1rem;margin-left: 1.2rem;margin-right: 1.5rem;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;margin-top: 1.25rem!important;margin-bottom: 1rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">BIG IDEA |</strong> ‘The share of global GDP produced by China’s SOEs has substantially increased: on my estimates, China’s SOEs account for about 4.5% of global GDP now, compared to about 1% back in 2000. I would point out that 4.5% of global GDP is a lot; it is more than the entire GDP of the UK, France or India.’</blockquote><p style="text-align: left;font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 2em!important;margin-bottom: 1em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Andrew Batson's numbers tell a different story from this chart</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td><img width="100%" src="https://img.scoop.it/IeDEbXYNVuYdXxSmJS69hzl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBWpnB4YU4myT9-8UqDpoJyK" style="display:block; width:100%; border:none; height:auto"></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="background: #fff"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">One of broad overarching issues</strong> in the Chinese economy is the tension between State-Owned-Enterprises and private companies.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">During Xi Jinping’s administration</strong> SOEs have been favored.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">This is because</strong> one of Mr. Xi’s overriding objectives is to assert greater and greater Chinese Communist Party over the economy even at the expense of growth.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">And SOEs, </strong>being more directly under Party control, are more responsive to aligning themselves with Party mandates.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Private companies,</strong> even though they account for much of the innovation and 75% of GDP have sometimes, have often seemed to be the poor stepchildren.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Now Mr. Xi</strong> is working to bring them to heel, allowing them to make money as long as they toe the Party line.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">There is even a phrase</strong> in Chinese that expresses this tension: 国进民退 (guo jin min tui).</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">This can be</strong> translated: ‘state enterprises advance, the private sector retreats.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">All by way saying</strong> that despite the tension, the private sector has been taking over a larger and larger share of GDP, as the chart above shows,</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Or so I thought</strong> until I read this analysis by Andrew Batson, China research director for&nbsp;Gavekal&nbsp;Dragonomics.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Mr. Batson</strong> recently participated in the discussion, <a href="https://www.csis.org/events/confronting-chinese-state-capitalism" rel="nofollow" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;">‘Confronting Chinese State Capitalism,’</a> at the Center for Strategic &amp; International Studies, and he transcribed his comments on his blog.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Those comments</strong> not only challenged ideas about the private sector’s share of GDP relative to SOEs', they also put the size of the state sector in the global economy into perspective.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Mr. Batson says:</strong> ‘There are a couple of different ways of looking at the advance or retreat of China’s state sector:’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘In a purely domestic context,</strong> or in a global context.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘On the domestic context</strong>, I’ve crunched a lot of numbers and found is that the value-added produced by state-owned enterprises has usually been in the range of 25-30% of China’s GDP.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘And what’s really striking</strong> about those numbers is that they just haven’t changed very much over the past 25 years.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The share of China’s economic output</strong> being produced by SOEs today, under Xi Jinping, is not significantly different than it was under Hu Jintao, or even in the later years of Jiang Zemin.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘In a purely domestic sense,</strong> then, there hasn’t been a major change in the balance of the economy between state-owned and private enterprises.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘That’s evidence </strong>that there are some pretty strong continuities between the approach of the Xi administration and that of previous administrations.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Xi certainly</strong> did not invent the idea that SOEs are and should be a central part of the Chinese economy, and he hasn’t actually taken huge parts of the economy away from the private sector and handed them to SOEs.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘What has changed more under Xi</strong> is not so much the relative size of the state and private sectors, but more the political context in which both private-sector and state-sector firms have to operate.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘These days,</strong> both types of companies are expected to follow the government’s guidance more closely.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The trajectory of China’s state sector</strong> looks pretty different if you look at it from the perspective of the world economy.’</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Let’s not forget</strong> the obvious fact that China’s economy has been consistently growing much, much faster than the rest of the world.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Since the share of SOEs</strong> in China’s economy has been basically stable, that means SOEs have also been growing quite fast, just as fast as the private sector.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘And that means China’s SOEs</strong> have gotten a lot bigger in absolute terms, and a lot bigger relative to the world economy.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The arithmetic</strong> here is pretty simple.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘At the turn of the century,</strong> China accounted for about 3.5% of global GDP. Now, China is about 17% of global GDP.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The SOE share of China’s economy</strong> is about the same today as it was 20 years ago.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Therefore,</strong> the share of global GDP produced by China’s SOEs has substantially increased: on my estimates, China’s SOEs account for about 4.5% of global GDP now, compared to about 1% back in 2000.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">(‘I would point out</strong> that 4.5% of global GDP is a lot; it is more than the entire GDP of the UK, France or India.’)</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘So for those of us outside China,</strong> it is very much the case that China’s state sector is advancing.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Chinese SOEs</strong> are a much bigger part of the global economy than they were before, and their international activities have also become much more important.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘I think it’s obvious</strong> that the rise of China’s SOEs represents a very substantial change in the structure of the world economy, and it should not be at all surprising that there is a lot of debate in other countries about how to respond to that change.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">I note</strong> that I am good enough to challenge Mr. Batson's analysis.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">But he is a respected analyst,</strong> working for one of the top independent firms.&nbsp;</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Keep an eye out </strong>for other analyses that confirm or deny.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="background-color:#f5f5f5;"><tbody><tr><td style="height:2rem; font-size:20px;">&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table class="noBorder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="background: #fff"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:5% 3.5%"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="50px" style="display:block; padding-top:10px;"><a href="http://sco.lt/7nGQue?track_p_id=2%40w6TTgzu_ifXqXzP5fAb3l" target="_blank" title="SourceLogo" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 0px solid #008dc8!important;"><img height="50px" width="auto" alt="SourceLogo" src="https://img.scoop.it/3QKIJ28TXRxlm_PNLipujEi__cjguAuwrRM5-qsdIhQ=" style="border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius:10%; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19); width:auto;"></a></td><td width="100%" style="padding-left:5%; color:#001544; font-size:27px; line-height:41px; font-weight:700; font-family: 'Lato'"><a href="http://sco.lt/7nGQue?track_p_id=4YAts6TTgzu_%406uRFKKHymp" style="color:#001544; text-decoration: none; border-bottom:none;" target="_blank">'The Biden Team Wants to Transform the Economy. Really.'</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://sco.lt/7nGQue?track_p_id=9tE1dB1jBD6TTgzu_VN46Cw" target="_blank" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><img width="100%" src="https://img.scoop.it/Nzp9lsX42rTcKCELNoR3yDl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBWpnB4YU4myT9-8UqDpoJyK" style="display:block; width:100%; border:none; height:auto"></a></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="background-color:#ffffff;margin-bottom:20px"><tbody><tr></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="background: #fff"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding: 0 3.5%;"><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 14px;line-height: 24px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-block-start: 0!important;margin-block-end: 0!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">The New York Times</strong></h3><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, serif;font-weight: normal;color: #001544;display: block;border-left: 5px solid #ddd;padding-left: 1rem;margin-left: 1.2rem;margin-right: 1.5rem;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;margin-top: 1.25rem!important;margin-bottom: 1rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">BIG IDEA |</strong> ‘Biden and his more activist advisers hope to modernize key industries and counter an economic threat from China, swiftly emerging as the world’s other superpower. “The package that they put together is the closest thing we’ve had to a broad industrial policy for generations, really,” says Scott Paul, the president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing.’</blockquote></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="background: #fff"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">&nbsp;‘The Biden Team Wants to Transform the Economy. Really.,’ </strong>a recent long piece in <em style="font-style: italic">The New York Times, </em>contends:</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘What Biden wants</strong> to do represents a rethinking of the country’s economic posture:’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Seeking to promote certain sectors</strong> — like green-energy production and the manufacture of wind turbines, say — so as not to cede them to competitors in Europe and Asia.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘ “The package</strong> that they put together is the closest thing we’ve had to a broad industrial policy for generations, really,” says Scott Paul, the president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, a trade association founded by the United Steelworkers union and a handful of large manufacturers.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Biden</strong> and his more activist advisers hope to modernize key industries and counter an economic threat from China, swiftly emerging as the world’s other superpower.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Reading this article,</strong> one big question came to mind: Has the time really come for Americans on the left and right to agree that the U.S. needs an industrial policy? (If so the contours of that policy remain to be seen.)</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">And, if it has,</strong> it has been a long time coming.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Questions about free-market capitalism</strong> began in earnest during the 2008 financial crisis.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">The failure of the market</strong> coupled with China’s fast economic growth (and its resilience during the crisis) led to a discussion about the merits of State-Capitalism.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">I remember</strong> especially a 2012 article in <em style="font-style: italic">The Economist</em>, ‘The Rise of State Capitalism,’ that explained the attraction of State Capitalism to emerging countries.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">And I remember around the same time </strong>a U.S. lawmaker (but can’t remember who) came back from a trip to China saying that the U.S. should change its economic model to more resemble that of China’s.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">But as the U.S. recovered</strong> talk of such government intervention in the economy faded.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Faded until Mr. Trump</strong> (in his greatest achievement in my book) alerted everyone to the dangers and challenges China posed.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">And just as Mr. Trump</strong> was being taken seriously, China began trumpeting its ‘Made in China 2025’ and other plans aimed at taking the unassailable lead in the technologies of the future – and generally scaring the pants off the U.S. and other developed economies.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">The issue</strong> then became how to meet this threat.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">A few weeks ago</strong> in a panel on the U.S. and China I put together for a major hedge fund, one of the speakers noted that to win a race you can either trip the opponent or run faster.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">During the Trump administration,</strong> the emphasis was on tripping China but without much success.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">At the same time, </strong>though, voices were being raised calling for America to run faster.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">To do that,</strong> they said, the United States needs an industrial policy of some sort.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">And loudest voices</strong> were those of Republicans, who a decade earlier would have pilloried anyone suggesting such a thing.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">The Republican</strong> I watched with the greatest fascination was Senator Marco Rubio.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">In 2019,</strong> his Committee on Small Business &amp; Entrepreneurship published an 80-page report, ‘Made in China 2025 and Future of American Industry,’ that set forth the challenge from China.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">And in 2019,</strong> he delivered a speech titled, ‘American Industrial Policy and the Rise of China.’ The header on his website: ‘To Counter China We Must Invest in America.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Here is part</strong> of that speech:</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">“American policymakers</strong> must pursue policies that make our economy more productive by identifying the critical value of specific industrial sectors and spurring investment in them.”</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">“The depletion</strong> of America’s manufacturing sector has left us with a tremendous national security vulnerability.”</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">“I am not advocating</strong> for a government takeover of our means of production.”</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">“What I am calling for us</strong> to do is remember that from World War II to the Space Race and beyond, a capitalist America has always relied on public-private collaboration to further our national security.”</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">“And from the internet to GPS,</strong> many of the innovations that have made America a technological superpower originated from national defense-oriented, public-private partnerships.”</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">“This kind of collaboration</strong> is not a rejection of capitalism. It is a call to encourage and harness the dynamism of our economy’s most productive private industries to further our national security and ultimately our national economic development.”</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">“It is a call</strong> for a 21st -century pro-American industrial policy.”</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘What Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Marco Rubio Agree On,’</strong> a NYT’s op-ed highlighted the bi-partisan convergence of views:</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘A growing number of politicians and intellectuals</strong> — left and right, “populist” and “establishment,” from Senator Marco Rubio to Senator Elizabeth Warren, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Senator Josh Hawley — are finding common ground under the banner of industrial policy.'&nbsp;</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">But,</strong> as pointed out in the NYT’s article:</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘There is good reason</strong> to doubt whether these bipartisan concerns will result in cooperation on actual policy.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Still,</strong> after decades of free-market orthodoxy in which protectionism became taboo among both parties’ elites, it is the rise of China, above all else, that is bringing nationalistic management of the economy back into the political mainstream.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘ “Twenty years ago,</strong> we would have had a huge ideological fight that this was ‘industrial policy,’” Chris Coons told me, referring to Biden’s economic agenda.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘ “Today</strong> our No. 1 competitor globally is — look up ‘industrial policy’ in the dictionary: It’s a unitary, state-controlled economy.” ’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">If the U.S. </strong>does adopt some form of industrial policy, what will look like?</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">There is no shortage of essays</strong> from think tanks, speeches by politicians, and op-eds from pundits arguing the pros and cons of industrial policy.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">But for now, industrial policy</strong> will be mostly what the Biden administration decides it is.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">What it decides</strong> will of course be influenced by the disparate voices in the Democratic Party and also by the views of Republican leaders like Mr. Rubio.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">And as the NYT article notes:</strong> ‘With Democrats in control of Congress, the problem for Biden may not be passing some version of his economic agenda so much as sorting through the sheer volume of asks suddenly pouring in from hundreds of members and industry groups.’&nbsp;Or, that is, politics as usual.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Don’t dismiss </strong>the Biden administration’s efforts to trip China, but for now anyway running faster appears to be the preferred mode of meeting the China challenge.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">That’s what</strong> to watch.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div>

<div style="background-color:#ffffff; margin:0 auto; padding:0; text-align:center;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="background-color: #ffffff; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="width:100%;margin: 0;text-align:left;background:#fff;"><tbody><tr><td><div></div><div><table class="noBorder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="background: #fff"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding: 3.5%;"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="50px" style="display:block; padding-top:10px;"><img height="50px" width="auto" alt="SourceLogo" src="https://assets-global.website-files.com/5c864c33af62620dca1373ac/5fc2c325b2be470b39241339_Malcolm%20Riddell.png" style="border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius:10%; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19); width:auto;"></td><td width="100%" style="padding-left:5%; color:#001544; font-size:27px; line-height:41px; font-weight:700; font-family: 'Lato'"><span style="color:#001544; text-decoration: none; border-bottom:none;">The Price of Misjudging America</span></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="background: #fff"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"></p><h1 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 26px;line-height: 36px;font-weight: 400;color: #001544;letter-spacing: 0.1px;display: inline-block;margin-block-start: 0;margin-block-end: 0;margin-inline-start: 0px;margin-inline-end: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Greetings!</strong></h1><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Commented</strong> on today:</p><h4 style="font-family: Georgia, serif;font-size: 16px;line-height: 27px;font-weight: bold;color: #001544;border-bottom: 2px solid #c80000;display: block;padding-bottom: 0.25em;margin-top: 2em;margin-bottom: 0em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">1. ‘China Blocked Jack Ma’s Ant IPO After Investigation Revealed Likely Beneficiaries,’ </strong>Lingling Wei | <em style="font-style: italic">The Wall Street Journal</em></h4><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;">BIG IDEA | ‘Behind layers of opaque investment vehicles that own stakes in Ant Financial are a coterie of well-connected Chinese power players, including some with links to political families that represent a potential challenge to President Xi and his inner circle. Those individuals, along with Mr. Ma and the company’s top managers, stood to pocket billions of dollars from a listing that would have valued the company at more than $300 billion.’</p><h4 style="font-family: Georgia, serif;font-size: 16px;line-height: 27px;font-weight: bold;color: #001544;border-bottom: 2px solid #c80000;display: block;padding-bottom: 0.25em;margin-top: 2em;margin-bottom: 0em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">2. 'Sansha City in China's South China Sea Strategy: Building a System of Administrative Control,'</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold">Zachary Haver&nbsp;| Naval War College</strong></h4><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;">BIG IDEA | ‘Sansha City, headquartered on Woody Island in the Paracel Islands, has created a system of&nbsp;party-state institutions that have normalized administrative control in the South China Sea. This system ultimately allows China to govern contested areas of the South China Sea as if they were Chinese territory.’</p><h4 style="font-family: Georgia, serif;font-size: 16px;line-height: 27px;font-weight: bold;color: #001544;border-bottom: 2px solid #c80000;display: block;padding-bottom: 0.25em;margin-top: 2em;margin-bottom: 0em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">3. ‘A Superpower, Like It or Not,’ </strong>Robert Kagan | <em style="font-style: italic">Foreign Affairs</em></h4><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;">BIG IDEA |&nbsp;‘The twentieth century was littered with the carcasses of foreign leaders and governments that misjudged the United States, from Germany (twice) and Japan to the Soviet Union to Serbia to Iraq. Perhaps the Chinese,&nbsp;careful students of history that they are, will not make the mistake that others have made in misjudging the United States.’</p><h2 style="font-family: Georgia, serif;font-size: 20px;line-height: 32px;font-weight: normal;color: #c80000;text-align: center;display: block;background-color: #f5f5f5;padding: 2.5% 5%;margin-block-start: 2rem;margin-block-end: 2rem;">&nbsp;&nbsp;<strong style="font-weight: bold">CHINADebate, the publisher of the China Macro Reporter, aims to present different views on a given issue.</strong>&nbsp;</h2><h4 style="font-family: Georgia, serif;font-size: 16px;line-height: 27px;font-weight: bold;color: #001544;border-bottom: 2px solid #c80000;display: block;padding-bottom: 0.25em;margin-top: 2em;margin-bottom: 0em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">1. Factional Politics in the Ant Financial IPO Decision</strong></h4><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Beijing’s abrupt cancellation</strong> of Ant Financial’s gigantic Hong Kong IPO has generated useful analysis on China fintech, risks to the financial system, government regulators, and even Xi Jinping’s temper.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">But none</strong> so useful as ‘China Blocked Jack Ma’s Ant IPO After Investigation Revealed Likely Beneficiaries’ in <em style="font-style: italic">The Wall Street Journal</em>.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">This article</strong> (and may there be many more like it) raises the hood on how Jack &nbsp;Ma divvied up investment in the IPO and how financial vehicles obscured the identities of the investors - none of whom, including Mr. Ma, were in Mr. Xi's favor.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">In short, </strong>a brief primer on how the rich in China help each other to get richer, and how Xi Jinping deals with those he doesn't care for.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">But even more interesting, the article contends:</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘</strong>When&nbsp;China’s leader Xi Jinping late last year quashed Ant Group’s initial public offering, his motives appeared clear:’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘He was worried that Ant</strong> was adding&nbsp;risk to the financial system, and&nbsp;furious at its founder, Jack Ma, for criticizing his signature campaign to strengthen financial oversight.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘There was another key reason,</strong> according to more than a dozen Chinese officials and government advisers:’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Growing unease</strong> in Beijing over Ant’s complex ownership structure—and the people who stood to gain most from what would have been the world’s largest IPO.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Behind layers of opaque investment vehicles</strong> that own stakes in the firm are a coterie of well-connected Chinese power players, including some with links to political families that represent a potential challenge to President Xi and his inner circle.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Among the investors</strong> were two friends of Jack Ma with connections to former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Mr. Jiang</strong> is the leader of the shanghai Clique’&nbsp;(上海帮), one of the Chinese Communist Party’s major factions.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Xi Jinping</strong> sees the ‘Shanghai Clique’ as a rival and, through his anti-corruption campaign, has purged many of its members.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Mr. Jiang himself,</strong> at 94, remains a force behind the scenes - and no friend of Xi Jinping.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Those individuals </strong>[the ones with ties Mr. Jiang and others], along with Mr. Ma and the company’s top managers, stood to pocket billions of dollars from a listing that would have valued the company at more than $300 billion.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">[Note: </strong>I have seen myself a ‘favor’ granted by Mr. Jiang pay off hundreds of millions of dollars to his grandson decades later – the long game indeed.]</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Wading through the details</strong> of the article you will see a snapshot of how the wealthy in China are interconnected and how investment schemes are used to hide investors identities.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">But these</strong> could apply almost anywhere.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">What is different here</strong> is how factional politics extends even to decisions such as Mr. Xi’s decision about Ant Financial.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">In my mind,</strong> I see a Xi confidante bursting into Mr. Xi’s offices and saying, ‘You won’t believe who’s going to get even richer from that Ant Financial deal!’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">And Mr. Xi thinking,</strong> ‘Oh no they’re not. Screw Jiang.’</li></ul><h4 style="font-family: Georgia, serif;font-size: 16px;line-height: 27px;font-weight: bold;color: #001544;border-bottom: 2px solid #c80000;display: block;padding-bottom: 0.25em;margin-top: 2em;margin-bottom: 0em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">2. The Nuts &amp; Bolts of China’s Taking Over the South China Sea</strong></h4><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">The South China Sea</strong> is second only to Taiwan as the most dangerous flashpoint in U.S.-China relations.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">China</strong> has built or developed small islands, some with military bases, to extend its claims of sovereignty over much of the South China Sea.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">In response, </strong>the U.S. pushes back by sending Navy warships through the disputed area in freedom of navigation exercises.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">The Chinese protest</strong> and sometimes send their ships and planes perilously close to those of the U.S. in near misses.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">It's these exercises</strong> and the potential for misjudgment by either side that make the headlines.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Less reported than </strong>these white-knuckle encounters are the legal and diplomatic measures used to pressure China to relent.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Even less reported</strong> are the nuts &amp; bolts of China's civilian’ administration of the region.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">That is why </strong>'Sansha City in China's South China Sea Strategy: Building a System of Administrative Control,' a U.S. Naval War College report is so valuable.&nbsp;</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">In sum, the 57-report says: ‘China established Sansha City</strong>&nbsp;in 2012 to administer the bulk of its territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Sansha City&nbsp;</strong>is headquartered on Woody Island in the Paracel Islands and claims jurisdiction that includes most of the waters within China’s disputed “nine-dash line” in the South China Sea.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Sansha City</strong>&nbsp;has created a system of party-state institutions that have normalized administrative control in the South China Sea.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Sansha City is</strong> responsible for exercising administrative control, implementing military-civil fusion, and carrying out the day-to-day work of rights defense, stability maintenance, environmental protection, and resource development.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Sansha City&nbsp;</strong>exercises “administrative control” in the sense that the city uses ostensibly civilian means to control contested maritime space and territory.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘This system&nbsp;</strong>ultimately allows China to govern contested areas of the South China Sea as if they were Chinese territory.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">To secure the South China Sea, </strong>China is building or developing little islands; using the PLA Navy, Coast Guard, and ‘gray fleet’ to guard these installations; violating international law and ignoring tribunal judgments against its claims; and generally being a bully to Southeast Asian claimants.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">But it is the administrative control</strong> over the region by Sansha City that lends a sense of permanence that other actions, even taken together, don’t.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Sansha City</strong> tells the world that China is in the South China Sea permanently.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">And only a war</strong> can change that.&nbsp;</li></ul><h4 style="font-family: Georgia, serif;font-size: 16px;line-height: 27px;font-weight: bold;color: #001544;border-bottom: 2px solid #c80000;display: block;padding-bottom: 0.25em;margin-top: 2em;margin-bottom: 0em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">3. The Carcasses of Countries That Misjudged the United States</strong></h4><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Each week</strong> I read dozens of essays about China and foreign policy.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">But I rarely</strong> come across one I have enjoyed as much as ‘A Superpower, Like It or Not’ by Robert Kagan.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Equal parts </strong>a review of the state of foreign affairs, a study of U.S’s role in the world, a warning to adversaries (this means you, China), an analysis of the American psyche, and a scolding to my country folks – there is so much that I had to divide into six posts in ‘The Big Ideas’ stream.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Here’s one part:</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Americans’ continental view of the world</strong>&nbsp;has produced a century of wild oscillations—indifference followed by panic, mobilization and intervention followed by retreat and retrenchment.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘This on-again, off-again approach&nbsp;</strong>has confused and misled allies and adversaries, often to the point of spurring conflicts that could have been avoided by a clear and steady application of American power and influence in the service of a peaceful, stable, and liberal world order.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The twentieth century</strong>&nbsp;was littered with the carcasses of foreign leaders and governments that misjudged the United States, from Germany (twice) and Japan to the Soviet Union to Serbia to Iraq.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Perhaps the Chinese, </strong>careful students of history that they are, will not make the mistake that others have made in misjudging the United States.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">On the same theme:</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Today,</strong>&nbsp;in an era when the United States is said to be dangerously overextended, there are roughly 200,000 U.S. troops deployed overseas, out of a population of 330 million.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Setting aside&nbsp;</strong>whether this constitutes “lazily playing with a fraction” of American strength, it is important to recognize that the United States is now in peace mode.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Were Americans&nbsp;</strong>to shift to a war footing, or even a Cold War–type footing, in response to some Chinese action—for instance, an attack on Taiwan—the United States would look like a very different animal.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘At the height of the late Cold War,</strong>&nbsp;under President Ronald Reagan, the United States spent six percent of GDP&nbsp;on defense, and its arms industry produced weapons in such quantity and of such quality that the Soviets simply could not keep up.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The Chinese&nbsp;</strong>could find themselves in a similar predicament.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">And speaking of President Reagan,</strong> whether you liked his policies or not, after Vietnam, Watergate, the failed Iranian hostage rescue, violent racial discrimination, and the other seemingly never-ending disasters the U.S. had been through, Mr. Reagan gave us Americans the ‘shining city on a hill’ and the confidence that we were an unconquerable force for good in the world.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Right or not in his assessments, </strong>Dr. Kagan’s essay exudes that same sort of optimism – certainly welcome to Americans, anyway, today.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Go deeper into these issues - check out the summaries below.</strong></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">And you will find these</strong> and other great analyses in the ‘China Macro | The Big Ideas’ Stream. Just click here:</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><div class="noBorder" style="background-color:#f5f5f5; margin:0 auto; padding:0; text-align:center"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="background-color:#f5f5f5; text-align:center; padding:40px 0"></table></div></div><div><table class="noBorder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="background: #fff"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding: 3.5%;border-top: 40px solid #f6f6f6;"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="50px" style="display:block; padding-top:10px;"><a href="http://sco.lt/5Iy6bY?track_p_id=08YESuU_fbV3xAiWcltd4LM" target="_blank" title="SourceLogo" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 0px solid #008dc8!important;"><img height="50px" width="auto" alt="SourceLogo" src="https://img.scoop.it/K9fKxwrt-0GqvuYSovNp30i__cjguAuwrRM5-qsdIhQ=" style="border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius:10%; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19); width:auto;"></a></td><td width="100%" style="padding-left:5%; color:#001544; font-size:27px; line-height:41px; font-weight:700; font-family: 'Lato'"><a href="http://sco.lt/5Iy6bY?track_p_id=cXn1YWwZsXbIY8YESuU_2nU" style="color:#001544; text-decoration: none; border-bottom:none;" target="_blank">'China Blocked Jack Ma’s Ant IPO After Investigation Revealed Likely Beneficiaries'</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="background: #fff"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://sco.lt/5Iy6bY?track_p_id=dBxewAXU3Er3lS8YESuU_Y3" target="_blank" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><img width="100%" src="https://img.scoop.it/qkdr3Yny3nx9HvKD5mxWfDl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBWpnB4YU4myT9-8UqDpoJyK" style="display:block;width: 75%;border:none;margin: 0 auto;height:auto;"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"></p><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 16px;line-height: 27px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-top: 0em;margin-bottom: 0.5em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">The Wall Street Journal</strong></h3><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 16px;line-height: 27px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-top: 0em;margin-bottom: 0.5em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Lingling Wei</strong> | The Wall Street Journal</h3><h4 style="font-family: Georgia, serif;font-size: 16px;line-height: 27px;font-weight: 400;color: #001544;border-bottom: 2px solid #c80000;display: block;padding-bottom: 0.25em;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 2em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;">BIG IDEA | ‘Behind layers of opaque investment vehicles that own stakes in the firm are a coterie of well-connected Chinese power players, including some with links to political families that represent a potential challenge to President Xi and his inner circle. Those individuals, along with Mr. Ma and the company’s top managers, stood to pocket billions of dollars from a listing that would have valued the company at more than $300 billion.’</h4><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘When&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-president-xi-jinping-halted-jack-ma-ant-ipo-11605203556?mod=article_inline" rel="nofollow" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">China’s leader Xi Jinping late last year quashed Ant Group’s initial public offering</strong></a><strong style="font-weight: bold">,</strong> his motives appeared clear:’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘He was worried that Ant</strong> was adding&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinese-regulators-launch-antitrust-investigation-into-alibaba-11608772797?mod=article_inline" rel="nofollow" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;">risk to the financial system</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/ant-founder-jack-ma-faces-backlash-from-regulators-11604442018?mod=article_inline" rel="nofollow" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;">furious at its founder</a>, Jack Ma, for criticizing his signature campaign to strengthen financial oversight.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘There was another key reason,</strong> according to more than a dozen Chinese officials and government advisers:’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘growing unease</strong> in Beijing over Ant’s complex ownership structure—and the people who stood to gain most from what would have been the world’s largest IPO.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘In the weeks</strong> before the financial-technology giant was scheduled to go public, a previously unreported central-government investigation found that Ant’s IPO prospectus obscured the complexity of the firm’s ownership, according to the officials and government advisers, who had knowledge of the probe.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Behind layers of opaque investment vehicles</strong> that own stakes in the firm are a coterie of well-connected Chinese power players, including some with links to political families that represent a potential challenge to President Xi and his inner circle.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">[Two of these</strong> have ties to Chinese leader Jiang Zemin and his ‘Shanghai Clique’&nbsp;(上海帮), one of the Chinese Communist Party’s major factions. Although many of Mr. Jiang’s allies have been purged in Mr. Xi’s anticorruption campaign, Mr. Jiang, at 94, remains a force behind the scenes - and no friend of Xi Jinping.]</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Those individuals,</strong> along with Mr. Ma and the company’s top managers, stood to pocket billions of dollars from a listing that would have valued the company at more than $300 billion.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="background-color:#f5f5f5;"><tbody><tr><td style="height:2rem; font-size:20px;">&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table class="noBorder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="background: #fff"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding: 3.5%;"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="50px" style="display:block; padding-top:10px;"><a href="http://sco.lt/8aCtjk?track_p_id=eHWi3afQJvYFwwg4lb4Yw_q" target="_blank" title="SourceLogo" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 0px solid #008dc8!important;"><img height="50px" width="auto" alt="SourceLogo" src="https://img.scoop.it/EOGIsDeJPzXhXV_OIoVcW0i__cjguAuwrRM5-qsdIhQ=" style="border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius:10%; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19); width:auto;"></a></td><td width="100%" style="padding-left:5%; color:#001544; font-size:27px; line-height:41px; font-weight:700; font-family: 'Lato'"><a href="http://sco.lt/8aCtjk?track_p_id=3k3F4lb4Yw_4vE%40nCpicMl2" style="color:#001544; text-decoration: none; border-bottom:none;" target="_blank">'Sansha City in China's South China Sea Strategy: Building a System of Administrative Control'</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="background: #fff"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://sco.lt/8aCtjk?track_p_id=7dYbp6uN4lb4Yw_nZsYJDQj" target="_blank" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><img width="100%" src="https://img.scoop.it/eNgSlG1Eoyo4sewzoc2a6jl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBWpnB4YU4myT9-8UqDpoJyK" style="display:block;width: 75%;border:none;margin: 0 auto;height:auto;"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"></p><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 16px;line-height: 27px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-top: 0em;margin-bottom: 0.5em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Naval War College</strong></h3><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 16px;line-height: 27px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-top: 0em;margin-bottom: 0.5em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Zachary Haver</strong>&nbsp;| Center for Advanced China Research</h3><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 16px;line-height: 27px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-top: 0em;margin-bottom: 0.5em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><a href="https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cmsi-maritime-reports/12/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Read</strong></a><strong style="font-weight: bold"> the 57-page Naval War College report</strong></h3><h4 style="font-family: Georgia, serif;font-size: 16px;line-height: 27px;font-weight: bold;color: #001544;border-bottom: 2px solid #c80000;display: block;padding-bottom: 0.25em;margin-top: 2em;margin-bottom: 0em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">BIG IDEA | ‘Sansha City, headquartered on Woody Island in the Paracel Islands, has created a system of party-state institutions that have normalized administrative control in the South China Sea. This system ultimately allows China to govern contested areas of the South China Sea as if they were Chinese territory.’</strong></h4><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘China established Sansha City</strong> in 2012 to administer the bulk of its territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Sansha City</strong> is headquartered on Woody Island in the Paracel Islands and claims jurisdiction that includes most of the waters within China’s disputed “ninedash line” in the South China Sea.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Sansha City</strong> has created a system of party-state institutions that have normalized administrative control in the South China Sea.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Sansha City</strong> is responsible for exercising administrative control, implementing military-civil fusion, and carrying out the day-to-day work of rights defense, stability maintenance, environmental protection, and resource development.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Sansha City</strong> exercises “administrative control” in the sense that the city uses ostensibly civilian means to control contested maritime space and territory.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘This system</strong> ultimately allows China to govern contested areas of the South China Sea as if they were Chinese territory.’</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="background-color:#f5f5f5;"><tbody><tr><td style="height:2rem; font-size:20px;">&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table class="noBorder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="background: #fff"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding: 3.5%;"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="50px" style="display:block; padding-top:10px;"><a href="http://sco.lt/6EsH8i?track_p_id=5mZOG26JlW1O_6MXbAG2nCQ" target="_blank" title="SourceLogo" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 0px solid #008dc8!important;"><img height="50px" width="auto" alt="SourceLogo" src="https://img.scoop.it/2P2LxiV-sg54VayqL9X2F0i__cjguAuwrRM5-qsdIhQ=" style="border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius:10%; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19); width:auto;"></a></td><td width="100%" style="padding-left:5%; color:#001544; font-size:27px; line-height:41px; font-weight:700; font-family: 'Lato'"><a href="http://sco.lt/6EsH8i?track_p_id=5mHFCK6JlW1O_L1iOMY6IZx" style="color:#001544; text-decoration: none; border-bottom:none;" target="_blank">Part 1| 'Like It Or Not, America Is Still A Superpower'</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="background: #fff"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://sco.lt/6EsH8i?track_p_id=21D6JlW1O_C3KN5mCoMbivK" target="_blank" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><img width="100%" src="https://img.scoop.it/Giqyut177064LvJGRYwE4jl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBWpnB4YU4myT9-8UqDpoJyK" style="display:block; width:100%; border:none; margin-bottom: 10px; height:auto"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"></p><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 16px;line-height: 27px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-top: 0em;margin-bottom: 0.5em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Foreign Affairs</strong></h3><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 16px;line-height: 27px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-top: 0em;margin-bottom: 0.5em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Robert Kagan</strong> | Brookings</h3><h4 style="font-family: Georgia, serif;font-size: 16px;line-height: 27px;font-weight: bold;color: #001544;border-bottom: 2px solid #c80000;display: block;padding-bottom: 0.25em;margin-top: 2em;margin-bottom: 0em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;">BIG IDEA | <strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The danger is that as Beijing ramps up efforts to fulfill what it has taken to calling “the Chinese dream,” Americans will start to panic. It is In times like this that miscalculations are made.’</strong></h4><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">This essay is a best of the best - terrific!</strong></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Americans are torn</strong> between these two impulses.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘On the one hand,</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold">China </strong>now occupies that place in the American mind that Germany and the Soviet Union once held: an ideological opponent that has the ability to strike at American society directly and that has power and ambitions that threaten the United States’ position in a key region and perhaps everywhere else, too.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘On the other hand,</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold">many Americans</strong> believe that the United States is in decline and that China will inevitably come to dominate Asia.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Indeed,</strong> the self-perceptions of the Americans and the Chinese are perfectly symmetrical.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The Chinese</strong> think that the United States’ role in their region for the past 75 years has been unnatural and is therefore transient, and so do the Americans.'</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The Chinese</strong> believe that the United States is in decline, and so do many Americans.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The danger</strong> is that as Beijing ramps up efforts to fulfill what it has taken to calling “the Chinese dream,” Americans will start to panic.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘It is in times</strong> like this that miscalculations are made.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"><a href="https://www.chinadebate.com/china-macro-reporter/the-big-ideas" target="_blank" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Read the other five parts</strong></a> in the 'China Macro | The Big Ideas' stream.</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 27px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 1rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div>

<div style="background-color:#ffffff; margin:0 auto; padding:0; text-align:center;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="background-color: #ffffff; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style=" width:100%; margin:0 auto; text-align:left; background:#fff"><tbody><tr><td><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding: 0 3.5% 0 3.5%;"><h1 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 26px;line-height: 36px;font-weight: 400;color: #001544;letter-spacing: 0.1px;display: inline-block;margin-block-start: 2rem;margin-block-end: 0.5rem;margin-inline-start: 0px;margin-inline-end: 0px;"><span style="color: #d0021b"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Happy China New Year!</strong></span></h1><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">For our New Year’s card</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold">for the Year of Ox,</strong> I chose the painting ‘Laozi (Lao Tzu) Riding an Ox’ [老子騎牛] by Ming Dynasty painter Zhang Lu [張路].</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://sco.lt/8yrsvI?track_p_id=6zDwK2H6TfJJW_VbXMmm6DA" target="_blank" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><img width="100%" src="https://img.scoop.it/vv1OGdwW9JgfvpBdlrnvkjl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBWpnB4YU4myT9-8UqDpoJyK" style="display:block;width: 75%;border:none;height:auto;margin: 0 auto;"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">According to historian Sima Qian</strong> (ca. 145–86 BC):</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Laozi </strong>cultivated the Tao and the Inner Power.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘He advocated the hermit’s life,</strong> a life lived in obscurity.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘He lived in Zhou for a long time, </strong>but when he saw that the Zhou dynasty was in a state of decline, he departed.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘When he reached the Hangu Pass,</strong> the Keeper of the Pass Yin Xi said to him: “You sir are about to retire into seclusion, I beseech you to write a book for me!” ’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘So Laozi wrote a book</strong> in two parts, treating of the Tao and the Power, in a little over five thousand words.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘And then</strong> he went on his way.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">No one was able</strong> to tell who he really was, no one knew where he went to in the end.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">According to legend,</strong> Laozi rode up to the pass on a blue ox, wrote <em style="font-style: italic">The Way and Its Power</em> [<em style="font-style: italic">Daodejing</em>/道德经] and then rode through the Pass on the ox and away from civilization forever.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Artists depicting</strong> this scene show Laozi riding the ox on the side (as here) or even backward and thus demonstrating his mastery and stability.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">In this painting</strong> you can see Laozi holding a scroll, presumably the <em style="font-style: italic">Daodejing</em>.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">[Note: </strong>Since Mr. Biden was elected, I keep thinking of the line in the <em style="font-style: italic">Daodejing:</em>&nbsp;'Govern a great country as you would cook a small fish.']</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">And, if you look closely, </strong>you'll see that Laozi is looking up at a bat.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">The bat</strong> is a common motif in Chinese art and is a symbol of wealth.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">This comes </strong>from the Chinese love of puns (and there is no better language for punning I know).</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">In the Beijing dialect</strong> the character for bat is fú&nbsp;蝠; the character for wealth is fù&nbsp;富&nbsp;.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">The characters</strong> have the same sound and the only difference is that the one for bat has an insect radical 虫 on the left.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">There is even a saying,</strong> 蝠子天来&nbsp;[fú zǐ tiān lái] - literally ‘bats come down from the sky,' but meaning roughly, ‘may wealth suddenly come down on you.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">(I have also heard</strong> that because bats hang motionless upside down, they are a symbol longevity.)</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">So all in all,</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Laozi Riding an Ox’</strong> conveys my wishes to you and your family during the Year of the Ox. May this year bring:</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">The wealth of a bat falling from the sky,</strong> the health and longevity of a Daoist Immortal, and the wisdom of Laozi.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Or as Ben Franklin</strong> put it: Healthy, Wealthy, &amp; Wise.</li></ul><h1 style="text-align: left;font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 26px;line-height: 36px;font-weight: 400;color: #001544;letter-spacing: 0.1px;display: inline-block;margin-block-start: 2rem;margin-block-end: 0.5rem;margin-inline-start: 0px;margin-inline-end: 0px;"><span style="color: #d0021b"><strong style="font-weight: bold">恭喜发财 | Happy New Year!</strong></span></h1><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">With my very best wishes,</strong></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Malcolm</strong></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div>

<div style="background-color:#ffffff; margin:0 auto; padding:0; text-align:center;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="background-color: #ffffff; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="width:100%; margin:0 auto; text-align:left; background:#fff"><tbody><tr><td><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"></p><h1 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 26px;line-height: 36px;font-weight: 400;color: #001544;letter-spacing: 0.1px;display: inline-block;margin-block-start: 0;margin-block-end: 0;margin-inline-start: 0px;margin-inline-end: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Greetings!</strong></h1><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">In today’s issue:</strong></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">1. Biden Lays Out His China Policy</strong></p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;">'Remarks by President Biden on America's Place in the World</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;">'Brookings experts analyze President Biden’s first foreign policy speech: Focus China'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">2. The 'Longer Telegram' &amp; Its Discontents</strong></p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;">' "Longer Telegram" Sets Off Fierce Global Debate'</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;">' "Longer Telegram" | To Counter China’s Rise, the U.S. Should Focus on Xi'</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;">'Why the ‘Longer Telegram’ Won’t Solve the China Challenge'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">3. Calling Mr. Kennan</strong></p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;">'In Search of Today’s George Kennan'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">4. A Look Back to 1947 &amp; 'X'</strong></p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;">'The Sources of Soviet Conduct' by X</li></ul><h2 style="text-align: center;font-family: Georgia, serif;font-size: 20px;line-height: 34px;font-weight: normal;color: #c80000;display: block;background-color: #f5f5f5;padding: 2.5% 5%;margin-block-start: 2rem;margin-block-end: 2rem;"><em style="font-style: italic"><strong style="font-weight: bold">CHINADebate, the publisher of the China Macro Reporter, aims to present different views on a given issue. Including an article here does not imply agreement with or endorsement of its contents.</strong></em></h2><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘A proliferation of new policy ideas</strong> often accompanies a changing of the guard in Washington,’ writes Axios’ Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘But this time around</strong>, growing concern over China's rise has driven debate into overdrive, as numerous stakeholders present competing visions for a U.S. response.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Numerous analysts</strong> are seizing this moment to showcase their ideas for containing China's authoritarianism and rejuvenating democracy, in the hope that their proposals might influence the Biden administration's future direction.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Some U.S. strategists</strong> have made comparisons to the early days of the Cold War, when State Department official George Kennan published an anonymous essay based off a cable, later known as the "Long Telegram," that laid out what would become the U.S. strategy of containment toward the Soviet Union.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘In November 2020,</strong> the Trump State Department's office of policy planning&nbsp;<a href="https://www.axios.com/scoop-the-state-department-to-release-kennan-style-paper-on-china-338234c2-f980-4983-9905-7a1d5fc16315.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;">produced</a>&nbsp;a 70-plus-page China strategy paper that openly drew inspiration from the Long Telegram but was not named after it.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Last week,</strong> the Atlantic Council&nbsp;<a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/content-series/atlantic-council-strategy-paper-series/the-longer-telegram/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;">published</a>&nbsp;a lengthy strategy paper called "The Longer Telegram," attributed to an anonymous former U.S. senior official.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">With this in mind, </strong>let’s look at three points:</p><ol style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Why everyone </strong>wants to be George Kennan</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Why the ‘Longer Telegram’ </strong>is no ‘Long Telegram’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Why the ‘Longer Telegram’ </strong>or any other proposed China strategy won’t make any difference</li></ol><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><span style="color: #d0021b"><strong style="font-weight: bold">1. Why everyone wants to be George Kennan</strong></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘In 1947 X penned</strong> his history-changing “Sources of Soviet Conduct” in <em style="font-style: italic">Foreign Affairs</em>,’ wrote Edward Luce in the <em style="font-style: italic">Financial Times </em>in 2018.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The piece, </strong>which crystallised America’s cold war containment strategy, was the making of George F Kennan’s life-long reputation as a master of geopolitics.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘As</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold">the architect</strong> of a doctrine that won the cold war.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">In the past few years,</strong> there has been no shortage of folks trying to come up with that simple, ‘crystallized,’ Kennan-like doctrine from which all U.S. policy toward China could be organized.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">No one</strong> has come close.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">As Mr. Luce</strong> notes:</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘America is desperate</strong> for the kind of strategic nous Kennan once personified.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘A few years ago </strong>we may have looked to people such as Zbigniew Brzezinski or Henry Kissinger to offer some kind of answer.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The first is dead</strong> and the second places too high a value on his access to Trump, Putin, Xi Jinping and others, to risk plain talk.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘We need</strong> new minds.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘All of us in Washington </strong>can point to dozens of smart foreign policy specialists in their own fields.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘But where</strong> is the grand strategist?’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Where </strong>indeed.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><span style="color: #d0021b"><strong style="font-weight: bold">2. Why the ‘Longer Telegram’ is no 'Long Telegram'</strong></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Every so often</strong> I re-read Mr. Kennan’s ‘Long Telegram’ (excerpts below in ‘4. A Look Back to 1947 &amp; “X” ’).</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Each time</strong> I am struck by the brilliance of the analysis and the powerful simplicity of the ‘containment’ doctrine.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">And each time, like a mathematician </strong>trying to solve some centuries’ old conundrum, I try to come up with the same kind of solution for U.S. strategy for China. No luck.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">But if I ever were to come up with an idea, </strong>I wouldn’t consider publishing with any mention of George Kennan.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">So it takes a lot of chutzpah</strong> to call your tract the ‘Longer Telegram’ (<em style="font-style: italic">vice</em> the ‘Long Telegram’) and to sign it ‘Anonymous’ (<em style="font-style: italic">vice</em> ‘X’).</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">And I was expecting</strong> something pretty terrific.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">But invoking the spirit</strong> of Vice-presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen: ‘Anonymous, you’re no X.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">My take on what the big idea</strong>&nbsp;is is the same as Paul Heer’s. He wrote in <em style="font-style: italic">The National Interest</em>:</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">“All U.S. political and policy responses</strong> to China therefore should be focused through the principal lens of Xi himself”—is the author’s conclusion.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Washington</strong> should be seeking to escape from, and even try to effect the removal of, Xi’s leadership because that could restore U.S.-China relations to a potentially constructive path: “its pre-2013 path—i.e., the pre-Xi strategic status quo.” ’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Washington&nbsp;</strong>should do this by directing its strategy “at the internal fault lines of domestic Chinese politics” because “the party is extremely divided on Xi’s leadership,” and particularly on his foreign policy assertiveness:’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘ “Xi’s critics</strong> contend that [his] ‘forcing of the pace’ has resulted in Beijing taking unnecessary risks by bringing about a fundamental change in U.S. strategy toward China much earlier than was either necessary or desirable.” ’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Mr. Heer </strong>continues:<strong style="font-weight: bold">&nbsp;</strong></p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘One of the author’s central premises&nbsp;</strong>is that “if leadership change were to occur, it would be more likely to move in the direction of a more moderate collective leadership” that would be easier for Washington to work with, and presumably less assertive and confrontational toward the United States.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘ “If leadership change does not occur,&nbsp;</strong>then the objective is to maximize internal political pressures on Xi to moderate Chinese policy of his own volition or to roll back various of his international initiatives.” ’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">A far cry from the elegance of ‘containment.’</strong> And, as Mr. Heer argues, also:</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Perhaps the most problematic aspect</strong>&nbsp;of the “Longer Telegram's” emphasis on Xi.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘This is a profoundly misguided</strong> if not dangerous approach.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘First, it almost certainly miscalculates</strong> (by exaggerating) the potential differences between Xi and any alternative leadership on the core issues in U.S.-China relations, or on the overall direction of Chinese foreign policy.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘In addition,</strong> it would be a hazardous venture for Washington to attempt to exploit the internal fault lines of Chinese politics and play one faction or leader off against another.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘This is precisely</strong> the kind of “intervention in China’s internal affairs” that fuels the visceral nationalism of Chinese leaders,’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Such a venture</strong> almost certainly is more likely to be counterproductive than to yield the desired result of accommodation to U.S. goals.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">For me, though,</strong> despite some very good analysis, the Longer Telegram fails because it lacks the single organizing principle from which a comprehensive strategy could be developed and implemented.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">That Anonymous,</strong> along with so many others, didn’t succeed perhaps points to the complexity of the U.S. relationship with China within China itself.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">In that case,</strong> we wait for our George Kennan in vain.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">And Anonymous, </strong>if he cares about his/her reputation, will remain so.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><span style="color: #d0021b"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Why the ‘Longer Telegram’ or any other proposed China strategy won’t make any difference</strong></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Whatever the merits or otherwise</strong> of the Longer Telegram, it has, as George Kempe, president of the Atlantic Council which published the essay, notes caused a stir:</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'The fierce global debate</strong> set off this week by a thought-provoking paper – “<a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/content-series/atlantic-council-strategy-paper-series/the-longer-telegram/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;">The </a><a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/content-series/atlantic-council-strategy-paper-series/the-longer-telegram/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;">Longer Telegram: Toward a New American China Strategy</a>” – has underscored the urgency and difficulty of framing a durable and actionable U.S. approach to China as the country grows more authoritarian, more self-confident and more globally assertive.'</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'The 26,000-word paper, </strong>published simultaneously by the Atlantic Council and in shorter form by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/01/28/china-foreign-policy-long-telegram-anonymous-463120" rel="nofollow" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;">Politico Magazine</a>, has served as a sort of&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rorschach_test" rel="nofollow" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;">Rorschach test for</a> the expert community on China.'</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'The reactions</strong> have ranged between critics, who found the paper’s prescriptions too provocative, to proponents, who lauded its ground-breaking contributions.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'Beijing took notice,</strong> not least because of the author’s apparent familiarity with Communist party politics and focus on President Xi Jinping.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson </strong>accused&nbsp;the anonymous author of “dark motives and cowardliness” aimed at inciting “a new Cold War.” '</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">While I acknowledge</strong> that anything that engenders serious debate about how the U.S. should manage its relationship with China is a good thing, I also acknowledge that neither the Longer Telegram nor any other proposal will make a whit of difference in the Biden team’s approach.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">As covered in our last issue,</strong> the Biden team is already working off the same playbook on China.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">And this week,</strong> the Boss confirmed it in his first foreign policy address. Regarding China, President Biden said:</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">“And we’ll also take on directly</strong> the challenges posed by our prosperity, security, and democratic values by our most serious competitor, China.” &nbsp;</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">“We’ll confront China’s economic abuses;</strong> counter its aggressive, coercive action; to push back on China’s attack on human rights, intellectual property, and global governance.”</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">“But we are ready to work with Beijing</strong> when it’s in America’s interest to do so. &nbsp;We will compete from a position of strength by building back better at home, working with our allies and partners, renewing our role in international institutions, and reclaiming our credibility and moral authority, much of which has been lost.”</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">“That’s why we’ve moved quickly </strong>to begin restoring American engagement internationally and earn back our leadership position, to catalyze global action on shared challenges.”</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Maybe not George Kennan; </strong>but no doubt about the approach either.</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="height:2rem; font-size:0; background-color:#f5f5f5;">&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td width="100%"><span style="display: block; margin-bottom:0px; padding:15px 3.5% 20px 3.5%; color:#ffffff; background-color:#c80000; text-align:center; font-family:'Lato'; font-size:1.75rem; line-height:2.75rem; font-weight:bold;">1. Biden Speaks China</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table class="noBorder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:5% 3.5%"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="50px" style="display:block; padding-top:10px;"><a href="http://sco.lt/5aD1u4?track_p_id=cNcqrFBaIPlIo80MmmU_1cp" target="_blank" title="SourceLogo" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 0px solid #008dc8!important;"><img height="50px" width="auto" alt="SourceLogo" src="https://img.scoop.it/BOtsZCzefPmUzoLcJ5Nr0Ei__cjguAuwrRM5-qsdIhQ=" style="border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius:10%; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19); width:auto;"></a></td><td width="100%" style="padding-left:5%; color:#001544; font-size:27px; line-height:41px; font-weight:700; font-family: 'Lato'"><a href="http://sco.lt/5aD1u4?track_p_id=5cm4vV80MmmU_HF6G45ahUq" style="color:#001544; text-decoration: none; border-bottom:none;" target="_blank">'Remarks by President Biden on America's Place in the World'</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://sco.lt/5aD1u4?track_p_id=2s680MmmU_KJ3tBizQfWs%40o" target="_blank" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><img width="100%" src="https://img.scoop.it/Ufa1SY8ATyPBdD9t2rTzxTl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBWpnB4YU4myT9-8UqDpoJyK" style="display:block; width:100%; border:none; height:auto"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"></p><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-top: 0em;margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">U.S. Department of State</strong></h3><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-top: 0em;margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Joe Biden | President of the United States</strong></h3><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><em style="font-style: italic">[Regarding China]</em><strong style="font-weight: bold">“And we’ll also take on directly</strong> the challenges posed by our prosperity, security, and democratic values by our most serious competitor, China.” &nbsp;</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">“We’ll confront China’s economic abuses;</strong> counter its aggressive, coercive action; to push back on China’s attack on human rights, intellectual property, and global governance.”</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">“But we are ready to work with Beijing</strong> when it’s in America’s interest to do so. &nbsp;We will compete from a position of strength by building back better at home, working with our allies and partners, renewing our role in international institutions, and reclaiming our credibility and moral authority, much of which has been lost.”</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">“That’s why we’ve moved quickly </strong>to begin restoring American engagement internationally and earn back our leadership position, to catalyze global action on shared challenges.”</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="background-color:#f5f5f5;"><tbody><tr><td style="height:2rem; font-size:20px;">&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table class="noBorder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:5% 3.5%"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="50px" style="display:block; padding-top:10px;"><a href="http://sco.lt/5sNMEC?track_p_id=04lOmgo_VlDjeabY1UeK3wf" target="_blank" title="SourceLogo" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 0px solid #008dc8!important;"><img height="50px" width="auto" alt="SourceLogo" src="https://img.scoop.it/fT8DySfKfRttY-U-TpJFkEi__cjguAuwrRM5-qsdIhQ=" style="border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius:10%; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19); width:auto;"></a></td><td width="100%" style="padding-left:5%; color:#001544; font-size:27px; line-height:41px; font-weight:700; font-family: 'Lato'"><a href="http://sco.lt/5sNMEC?track_p_id=04lOmgo_t6sEUolJDZ25bvc" style="color:#001544; text-decoration: none; border-bottom:none;" target="_blank">'Brookings experts analyze President Biden’s first foreign policy speech: Focus China'</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"></p><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-top: 0em;margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Brookings</strong></h3><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-top: 0em;margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Ryan Hass&nbsp;| </strong>Brookings</h3><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'On February 4,</strong> in his first major&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/02/04/remarks-by-president-biden-on-americas-place-in-the-world/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;">foreign policy speech</a>&nbsp;as president, Joe Biden declared: “America is back. Diplomacy is back at the center of our foreign policy.” '</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'President Biden’s treatment of China</strong> in his first foreign policy address signaled that he views China as a central challenge, but not a burning issue that eclipses all other concerns.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'Biden embedded</strong> discussion of China within his survey of risks and opportunities on the international horizon.'</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'Biden emphasized</strong> that China poses significant challenges to America’s interests and values.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'To respond effectively,</strong> Biden argued, America will need to rebuild leverage, e.g., by pursuing domestic renewal, investing in alliances, reestablishing U.S. leadership on the world stage, and restoring American authority in advocating for universal values.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'Such an approach</strong> marks a departure from the previous administration’s framing of U.S.-China relations as an ideological and Manichean good vs. evil struggle.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'Biden clearly has no qualms</strong> about pushing back firmly against China, but he signaled that he intends to do so purposefully, with an eye toward advancing American interests.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'This includes</strong> cooperating with competitors when it is in America’s interests to do so.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'Even as it will take time for this shift</strong> in approach to take expression in specific policies and actions, there should be little doubt that President Biden and his team have their own views of how the United States can outcompete China.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'Much of their work</strong> will focus on efforts at home, with allies, and on the world stage.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'The shifts</strong> may be subtle and may not generate daily headlines.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'But with Biden’s speech,</strong> a course correction on China policy appears to be underway.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="height:2rem; font-size:0; background-color:#f5f5f5;">&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td width="100%"><span style="display: block; margin-bottom:0px; padding:15px 3.5% 20px 3.5%; color:#ffffff; background-color:#c80000; text-align:center; font-family:'Lato'; font-size:1.75rem; line-height:2.75rem; font-weight:bold;">2. The 'Longer Telegram' &amp; Its Discontents</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table class="noBorder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:5% 3.5%"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="50px" style="display:block; padding-top:10px;"><a href="http://sco.lt/6AXgYK?track_p_id=eTAaX4JFFO1SV2X5Fi0vG_d" target="_blank" title="SourceLogo" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 0px solid #008dc8!important;"><img height="50px" width="auto" alt="SourceLogo" src="https://img.scoop.it/LVEdRSpgxX4CbqTrlPycNEi__cjguAuwrRM5-qsdIhQ=" style="border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius:10%; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19); width:auto;"></a></td><td width="100%" style="padding-left:5%; color:#001544; font-size:27px; line-height:41px; font-weight:700; font-family: 'Lato'"><a href="http://sco.lt/6AXgYK?track_p_id=dMS5LaFNZCsOCt5Fi0vG_Gp" style="color:#001544; text-decoration: none; border-bottom:none;" target="_blank">' "Longer Telegram" Sets Off Fierce Global Debate'</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://sco.lt/6AXgYK?track_p_id=8fu1gTNgx5Fi0vG_xnx6QJn" target="_blank" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><img width="100%" src="https://img.scoop.it/g71fFpG3jsrxFLIBARUCVjl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBWpnB4YU4myT9-8UqDpoJyK" style="display:block; width:100%; border:none; height:auto"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"></p><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-top: 0em;margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">CNBC</strong></h3><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-top: 0em;margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Frederick Kempe | president, Atlantic Council</strong></h3><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'The fierce global debate</strong> set off this week by a thought-provoking paper - “<a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/content-series/atlantic-council-strategy-paper-series/the-longer-telegram/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;">The</a><a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/content-series/atlantic-council-strategy-paper-series/the-longer-telegram/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;">Longer Telegram: Toward a New American China Strategy</a>” – has underscored the urgency and difficulty of framing a durable and actionable U.S. approach to China as the country grows more authoritarian, more self-confident and more globally assertive.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'The 26,000-word paper,</strong> published simultaneously by the Atlantic Council and in shorter form by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/01/28/china-foreign-policy-long-telegram-anonymous-463120" rel="nofollow" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;">Politico Magazine</a>, has served as a sort of&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rorschach_test" rel="nofollow" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;">Rorschach test for</a> the expert community on China.'</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'The reactions</strong> have ranged between critics, who found the paper’s prescriptions too provocative, to proponents, who lauded its ground-breaking contributions.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'Beijing took notice,</strong> not least because of the author’s apparent familiarity with Communist party politics and focus on President Xi Jinping.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson </strong><a href="http://www.fmcoprc.gov.mo/eng/zxxw/fyrth_1/t1850326.htm" rel="nofollow" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;">accused</a>&nbsp;the anonymous author of “dark motives and cowardliness” aimed at inciting “a new Cold War.” '</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><u style="text-decoration: underline"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'</strong></u><a href="https://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-%E2%80%98longer-telegram%E2%80%99-won%E2%80%99t-solve-china-challenge-177404" target="_blank" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><u style="text-decoration: underline"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Writing</strong></u></a><strong style="font-weight: bold"> in the realist,</strong> conservative National Interest, former CIA China analyst Paul Heer seemed to agree, debunking the singular Xi emphasis “a profoundly misguided if not dangerous approach.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'Financial Times columnist Martin Wolf</strong><a href="https://www.ft.com/content/83a521c0-6abb-4efa-be48-89ecb52c8d01" target="_blank" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><u style="text-decoration: underline">agreed</u></a> with Anonymous that China “increasingly behaves like a rising great power ruled by a ruthless and effective despot,” but his critique was that the author’s myriad goals aren’t achievable due to China’s economic performance and untapped potential.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'We published </strong>the Longer Telegram at the Atlantic Council, where I am president and CEO, and I admit to a certain bias regarding the paper’s value.'&nbsp;</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'I am glad</strong> it has stirred a global discussion, with criticisms and positive suggestions.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="background-color:#f5f5f5;"><tbody><tr><td style="height:2rem; font-size:20px;">&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table class="noBorder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:5% 3.5%"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="50px" style="display:block; padding-top:10px;"><a href="http://sco.lt/6Si0sS?track_p_id=cX33oYvIrWA2U76Qz0g_XJc" target="_blank" title="SourceLogo" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 0px solid #008dc8!important;"><img height="50px" width="auto" alt="SourceLogo" src="https://img.scoop.it/irry7EUsnjxPAzOLxwPDM0i__cjguAuwrRM5-qsdIhQ=" style="border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius:10%; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19); width:auto;"></a></td><td width="100%" style="padding-left:5%; color:#001544; font-size:27px; line-height:41px; font-weight:700; font-family: 'Lato'"><a href="http://sco.lt/6Si0sS?track_p_id=b%40cZiDpL46yZ76Qz0g_yIgK" style="color:#001544; text-decoration: none; border-bottom:none;" target="_blank">' "Longer Telegram" | To Counter China’s Rise, the U.S. Should Focus on Xi'</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://sco.lt/6Si0sS?track_p_id=dUlIcOkvaqnU1h76Qz0g_Je" target="_blank" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><img width="100%" src="https://img.scoop.it/2_8dVxkqccahKYcmCmvYSTl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBWpnB4YU4myT9-8UqDpoJyK" style="display:block; width:100%; border:none; height:auto"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"></p><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-top: 0em;margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Politico</strong></h3><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-top: 0em;margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Anonymous</strong></h3><h2 style="font-family: Georgia, serif;font-size: 20px;line-height: 34px;font-weight: normal;color: #c80000;text-align: center;display: block;background-color: #f5f5f5;padding: 2.5% 5%;margin-block-start: 2rem;margin-block-end: 2rem;"><em style="font-style: italic"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'A strategy that focuses more narrowly on Xi, rather than the CCP as a whole, presents a more achievable objective.'</strong></em></h2><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-top: 0em;margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/content-series/atlantic-council-strategy-paper-series/the-longer-telegram/" target="_blank" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Read</strong></a><strong style="font-weight: bold"> the entire 'Longer Telegram'</strong></h3><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘China under Xi,</strong>&nbsp;unlike under previous leaders Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, is no longer a status quo power.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘It has become what the international-relations world calls a revisionist power,</strong>&nbsp;a state bent on changing the world around it.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘For the United States, its</strong>&nbsp;allies and the US-led liberal international order, this represents a fundamental shift.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Xi is no longer</strong>&nbsp;just a problem for U.S. primacy.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘He now presents a serious challenge</strong>&nbsp;to the whole of the democratic world.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Washington’s difficulty</strong>&nbsp;in developing an effective China strategy lies in the absence of a clearly understood strategic objective.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘At present,</strong>&nbsp;objectives articulated by various officials range from inducing Chinese economic reform through a limited trade war to full-blown regime change that focuses on overthrowing the Communist Party.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘So what should this objective be</strong>—and what understanding of China is it based on?’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The present challenge</strong>&nbsp;will require a qualitatively different and more granular policy response to China than the blunt instrument of “containment with Chinese characteristics” and a dream of CCP collapse.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘In fact,</strong>&nbsp;indulgence in politically appealing calls for the overthrow of the 91 million-member CCP as a whole is strategically self-defeating.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Such an approach</strong>&nbsp;only strengthens Xi’s hand as it enables him to circle elite political and popular nationalist wagons in defense of both party and country.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘In contrast,</strong>&nbsp;a strategy that focuses more narrowly on Xi, rather than the CCP as a whole, presents a more achievable objective—and also points to policies that serve to weaken rather than embolden his autocratic leadership in the process.’</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="background-color:#f5f5f5;"><tbody><tr><td style="height:2rem; font-size:20px;">&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table class="noBorder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:5% 3.5%"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="50px" style="display:block; padding-top:10px;"><a href="http://sco.lt/6ksLCa?track_p_id=cyjK2E3ElE6mc6On9lG_FAB" target="_blank" title="SourceLogo" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 0px solid #008dc8!important;"><img height="50px" width="auto" alt="SourceLogo" src="https://img.scoop.it/15iB4h5--Bc60ZQrlKal_0i__cjguAuwrRM5-qsdIhQ=" style="border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius:10%; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19); width:auto;"></a></td><td width="100%" style="padding-left:5%; color:#001544; font-size:27px; line-height:41px; font-weight:700; font-family: 'Lato'"><a href="http://sco.lt/6ksLCa?track_p_id=4oHh26On9lG_eLbaVS3IdrQ" style="color:#001544; text-decoration: none; border-bottom:none;" target="_blank">'Why the ‘Longer Telegram’ Won’t Solve the China Challenge'</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"></p><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-top: 0em;margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">The National Interest</strong></h3><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-top: 0em;margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">&nbsp;Paul Heer</strong> | Center for the National Interest, former National Intelligence Officer for East Asia, &amp; author of <em style="font-style: italic">Mr. X and the Pacific: George F. Kennan and American Policy in East Asia </em>&nbsp;</h3><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;">&nbsp;<strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Perhaps the most problematic aspect</strong>&nbsp;of the 'Longer Telegram's' emphasis on Xi—“All U.S. political and policy responses to China therefore should be focused through the principal lens of Xi himself”—is the author’s conclusion that Washington should be seeking to escape from, and even try to effect the removal of, Xi’s leadership because that could restore U.S.-China relations to a potentially constructive path: “its pre-2013 path—i.e., the pre-Xi strategic status quo.” ’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Washington&nbsp;</strong>should do this by directing its strategy “at the internal fault lines of domestic Chinese politics” because “the party is extremely divided on Xi’s leadership,” and particularly on his foreign policy assertiveness: “Xi’s critics contend that [his] ‘forcing of the pace’ has resulted in Beijing taking unnecessary risks by bringing about a fundamental change in U.S. strategy toward China much earlier than was either necessary or desirable.” ’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘One of the author’s central premises&nbsp;</strong>is that “if leadership change were to occur, it would be more likely to move in the direction of a more moderate collective leadership” that would be easier for Washington to work with, and presumably less assertive and confrontational toward the United States.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘ “If leadership change does not occur,&nbsp;</strong>then the objective is to maximize internal political pressures on Xi to moderate Chinese policy of his own volition or to roll back various of his international initiatives.” ’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘This is a profoundly misguided</strong>&nbsp;if not dangerous approach.’</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="height:2rem; font-size:0; background-color:#f5f5f5;">&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td width="100%"><span style="display: block; margin-bottom:0px; padding:15px 3.5% 20px 3.5%; color:#ffffff; background-color:#c80000; text-align:center; font-family:'Lato'; font-size:1.75rem; line-height:2.75rem; font-weight:bold;">3. Calling Mr. Kennan</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table class="noBorder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:5% 3.5%"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="50px" style="display:block; padding-top:10px;"><a href="http://sco.lt/7LCzqq?track_p_id=6aDXqwG7cChGY_unquiX4pP" target="_blank" title="SourceLogo" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 0px solid #008dc8!important;"><img height="50px" width="auto" alt="SourceLogo" src="https://img.scoop.it/zxbyrGBKPhFFZLzMYqfYnUi__cjguAuwrRM5-qsdIhQ=" style="border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius:10%; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19); width:auto;"></a></td><td width="100%" style="padding-left:5%; color:#001544; font-size:27px; line-height:41px; font-weight:700; font-family: 'Lato'"><a href="http://sco.lt/7LCzqq?track_p_id=brRI4lcCErTD7cChGY_Mzt4" style="color:#001544; text-decoration: none; border-bottom:none;" target="_blank">'In Search of Today’s George Kennan'</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://sco.lt/7LCzqq?track_p_id=bZ53V4O2YiWv7cChGY_RBy6" target="_blank" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><img width="100%" src="https://img.scoop.it/YreZ0Gtz__so_SzqYdoJJjl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBWpnB4YU4myT9-8UqDpoJyK" style="display:block; width:100%; border:none; height:auto"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"></p><p style="margin: 0;font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong>The Financial Times</strong></p><p style="margin: 0;font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong>Edward Luce</strong> | The Financial Times</p><p style="margin: 0;font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘America is desperate for the kind of strategic nous Kennan once personified.’ </strong></p><p style="margin: 0;font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘In 1947 X penned</strong> his history-changing “Sources of Soviet Conduct” in Foreign Affairs.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘The piece,</strong> which crystallised America’s cold war containment strategy, was the making of George F Kennan’s life-long reputation as a master of geopolitics.’</li></ul><p style="margin: 0;font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘The Kennan we need today</strong> is someone who would be clear-eyed about the world America faces.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘It is just as rapidly</strong> changing as it was in 1947.’</li></ul><p style="margin: 0;font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘Kennan helped Washington grasp</strong> that the Soviet Union was the same old paranoid Russia behind a Leninist mask.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘It was “impervious to reason”</strong> but sensitive to force.’</li></ul><p style="margin: 0;font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘Kennan provided a framework</strong> to break through the bitter divide between those who believed America should return to its prewar isolationism, and those who believed the USSR was itching for a dramatic showdown with the capitalist west.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘Neither was true.</strong> Either path would have been disastrous.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘Kennan’s crisp analytical mind</strong> sidelined both schools.’</li></ul><p style="margin: 0;font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘He was later to regret</strong> the indiscriminate use of his doctrine — most egregiously in Vietnam.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘But he earned his spurs</strong> as the architect of a doctrine that won the cold war.’</li></ul><p style="margin: 0;font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘America today faces</strong> a more complicated global picture.’&nbsp;</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘Most of the foreign policy establishment</strong> sees China as America’s real 21st-century rival.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘Russia is still Russia</strong> but it is far more easily containable than during the cold war.</li></ul><p style="margin: 0;font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘China,</strong> on the other hand, poses a new kind of headache.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘Unlike the Soviet Union,</strong> China’s economy is deeply intermeshed with the global supply chain.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘It owns</strong> more than $1tn of American debt.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘And it is capable</strong> of blunting America’s technological edge.’</li></ul><p style="margin: 0;font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘Containment makes little sense</strong> when your prosperity is so intertwined.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘A trade war</strong> is self-defeating.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘Military confrontation is unthinkable,</strong> though deterrence must be maintained.’</li></ul><p style="margin: 0;font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘What can</strong> be done?’</p><p style="margin: 0;font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘America is desperate</strong> for the kind of strategic nous Kennan once personified.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘A few years ago</strong> we may have looked to people such as Zbigniew Brzezinski or Henry Kissinger to offer some kind of answer.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘The first is dead</strong> and the second places too high a value on his access to Trump, Putin, Xi Jinping and others, to risk plain talk.’</li></ul><p style="margin: 0;font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘We need</strong> new minds.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘All of us in Washington</strong> can point to dozens of smart foreign policy specialists in their own fields.’</li></ul><p style="margin: 0;font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong>‘But where</strong> is the grand strategist?’</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="height:2rem; font-size:0; background-color:#f5f5f5;">&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td width="100%"><span style="display: block; margin-bottom:0px; padding:15px 3.5% 20px 3.5%; color:#ffffff; background-color:#c80000; text-align:center; font-family:'Lato'; font-size:1.75rem; line-height:2.75rem; font-weight:bold;">4. A Look Back to 1947 &amp; 'X'</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table class="noBorder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:5% 3.5%"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="50px" style="display:block; padding-top:10px;"><a href="http://sco.lt/7dNKAy?track_p_id=eKMCJdrOgnRXow%407sf9lG_4" target="_blank" title="SourceLogo" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 0px solid #008dc8!important;"><img height="50px" width="auto" alt="SourceLogo" src="https://img.scoop.it/2P2LxiV-sg54VayqL9X2F0i__cjguAuwrRM5-qsdIhQ=" style="border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius:10%; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19); width:auto;"></a></td><td width="100%" style="padding-left:5%; color:#001544; font-size:27px; line-height:41px; font-weight:700; font-family: 'Lato'"><a href="http://sco.lt/7dNKAy?track_p_id=5bFDmx7sf9lG_OclavBDw5H" style="color:#001544; text-decoration: none; border-bottom:none;" target="_blank">'The Sources of Soviet Conduct'</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://sco.lt/7dNKAy?track_p_id=75JTKVwm7sf9lG_R2XhFNbo" target="_blank" style="color: #001544!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><img width="100%" src="https://img.scoop.it/TG04KzB-_PhFwbwGt2GRRjl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBWpnB4YU4myT9-8UqDpoJyK" style="display:block; width:100%; border:none; height:auto"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"></p><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-top: 0em;margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Foreign Affairs</strong></h3><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-top: 0em;margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">"X" (George F. Kennan) </strong>| U.S. State Department</h3><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px;font-weight: normal;color: #5d5d5f;display: block;margin-top: 0em;margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">July 1947</strong></h3><p style="text-align: center;font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'The main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies.’&nbsp;</strong></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The political personality of Soviet power</strong> as we know it today is the product of ideology and circumstances:’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘ideology inherited</strong> by the present Soviet leaders from the movement in which they had their political origin, and’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘circumstances of the power</strong> which they now have exercised for nearly three decades in Russia.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘There can be few tasks</strong> of psychological analysis more difficult than to try to trace the interaction of these two forces and the relative role of each in the determination of official Soviet conduct.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Yet the attempt</strong> must be made if that conduct is to be understood and effectively countered.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;">&nbsp;</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;">II</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Of the original ideology,</strong> nothing has been officially junked.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Belief is maintained </strong>in the basic badness of capitalism, in the inevitability of its destruction, in the obligation of the proletariat to assist in that destruction and to take power into its own hands.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘But stress</strong> has come to be laid primarily on those concepts which relate most specifically to the Soviet regime itself:’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘to its position</strong> as the sole truly Socialist regime in a dark and misguided world, and to the relationships of power within it.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The first of these concepts </strong>is that of the innate antagonism between capitalism and Socialism.’&nbsp;</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘This brings us to the second of the concepts</strong> important to contemporary Soviet outlook.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘That is the infallibility</strong> of the Kremlin.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The Soviet concept of power,</strong> which permits no focal points of organization outside the Party itself, requires that the Party leadership remain in theory the sole repository of truth.’&nbsp;</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘But we have seen that the Kremlin</strong> is under no ideological compulsion to accomplish its purposes in a hurry.’&nbsp;</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘In these circumstances</strong> it is clear that the main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies.’</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘It is important to note,</strong> however, that such a policy has nothing to do with outward histrionics: with threats or blustering or superfluous gestures of outward "toughness." '</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘While the Kremlin</strong> is basically flexible in its reaction to political realities, it is by no means unamenable to considerations of prestige.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Like almost any other government, </strong>it can be placed by tactless and threatening gestures in a position where it cannot afford to yield even though this might be dictated by its sense of realism.’&nbsp;</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;">&nbsp;</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;">III</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘In the light of the above,</strong> it will be clearly seen that the Soviet pressure against the free institutions of the Western world is something that can be contained by the adroit and vigilant application of counterforce at a series of constantly shifting geographical and political points, corresponding to the shifts and maneuvers of Soviet policy, but which cannot be charmed or talked out of existence.’&nbsp;</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;">&nbsp;</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;">IV</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘It is clear</strong> that the United States cannot expect in the foreseeable future to enjoy political intimacy with the Soviet regime.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘It must continue</strong> to regard the Soviet Union as a rival, not a partner, in the political arena.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘It must continue</strong> to expect that Soviet policies will reflect no abstract love of peace and stability, no real faith in the possibility of a permanent happy coexistence of the Socialist and capitalist worlds, but rather a cautious, persistent pressure toward the disruption and weakening of all rival influence and rival power.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Balanced against this</strong> are the facts that Russia, as opposed to the western world in general, is still by far the weaker party, that Soviet policy is highly flexible, and that Soviet society may well contain deficiencies which will eventually weaken its own total potential.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 0px!important;margin-block-end: 0px!important;margin-inline-start: 40px!important;margin-inline-end: 0px!important;padding-left: 0px!important;padding-inline-start: 0px!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;margin-top: 0.5rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 0rem!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘This would of itself</strong> warrant the United States entering with reasonable confidence upon a policy of firm containment, designed to confront the Russians with unalterable counterforce at every point where they show signs of encroaching upon the interest of a peaceful and stable world.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 17px!important;line-height: 30px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-top: 0rem!important;margin-bottom: 0rem!important;margin-block-start: 1.5rem!important;margin-block-end: 0.5rem!important;margin-inline-start: 0rem!important;margin-inline-end: 0rem!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div>

<div style="background-color:#ffffff; margin:0 auto; padding:0; text-align:center;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="background-color: #ffffff; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="max-width:600px"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="width:100%; margin:0 auto; text-align:left; background:#fff"><tbody><tr><td><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">In today’s issue:</strong></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">1. China Lays Out Its Position</strong></p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;">'A Conversation with Politburo Member Yang Jiechi'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">2. The U.S. Lays Out Its Position</strong></p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;">'Biden's whole-of-National Security Council China strategy'</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;">'National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on U.S. Policy Toward China'</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;">'Secretary of State Antony Blinken on U.S. Policy Toward China'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">3. Burma: At the Center of the U.S.-China Competition</strong></p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;">'Burma’s Coup and Biden’s Choice'</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;">'Coup a further complication for tricky Myanmar-China ties'&nbsp;</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;">'Coup Puts Myanmar at the Center of the U.S.-China Clash'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">4. Burma or Myanmar?</strong></p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;">'Myanmar, Burma and why the different names matter'</li></ul><h2 style="text-align: center;font-family: Georgia, serif;font-size: 20px;line-height: 32px;font-weight: normal;color: #c80000;display: block;background-color: #f7f7f6;padding: 2.5% 5%;border: 1px solid #fffffe;margin-block-start: 1.2em!important;margin-block-end: 1.2em!important;"><em style="font-style: italic"><strong style="font-weight: bold">CHINADebate, the publisher of the China Macro Reporter, aims to present different views on a given issue. Including an article here does not imply agreement with or endorsement of its contents.</strong></em></h2><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">During the Cold War</strong> the U.S. and the Soviet Union never met in a direct military confrontation.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Instead </strong>they pursued their aims through ‘proxy wars.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">It’s hard to imagine</strong> where and how the U.S. and China could fight those sorts of wars.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Their proxy wars</strong> – if that term is even applicable - will be fought over economic and political influence in smaller countries.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Which brings us </strong>to the coup in Burma.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">While the U.S.</strong> had no hand in the coup in Burma, and China, as of this writing, didn’t appear to either, their competition for influence in Burma somehow brings the idea of a proxy war to mind.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Since the Obama administration,</strong> the U.S. has worked to coax Burma into the democracy camp and at the same time decrying its human rights abuses.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">All this time, China</strong> courted Burma’s leaders (and certainly corrupted some of them), invested billions, and promised billions more to increase its influence and its access to the Bay of Bengal through Burma.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">In these few days</strong> since the coup, China seems poised to claim victory over U.S. interests.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Craft </strong>overcame principle.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">That matters</strong> because as <em style="font-style: italic">The Wall Street Journal</em> right points out:</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The top U.S. priority in Asia </strong>is limiting Beijing’s ability to control independent states like Burma, which is strategically situated in the Indo-Pacific.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The U.S. response</strong> needs to take into account China’s regional designs.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Good advice</strong> for the Biden team.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">And for us</strong>, good reason to study the history of Sino-Burmese/U.S.-Burmese relations, especially in the last decade. (And to read the reports and analyses below)</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Burma </strong>won’t be the only arena for this sort of proxy war.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">The lessons</strong> learned won’t be wasted.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;">&nbsp;</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Note:</strong> I had forgotten how we got to ‘Myanmar’ from ‘Burma.’ The AP explained:</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘For generations,</strong> the country was called Burma, after the dominant Burman ethnic group.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘But in 1989,</strong> one year after the ruling junta brutally suppressed a pro-democracy uprising, military leaders suddenly changed its name to Myanmar.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘By then,</strong> Burma was an international pariah, desperate for any way to improve its image.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Hoping for a sliver of international legitimacy,</strong> it said it was discarding a name handed down from its colonial past and to foster ethnic unity.'</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The old name,</strong> officials said, excluded the country’s many ethnic minorities.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Unlike most of the world,</strong> the U.S. government still officially uses “Burma.” ’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Washington’s response to the coup</strong> seemed designed to highlight old criticisms, with both Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Joe Biden pointedly avoiding the country’s legal name.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Burma </strong>works for me.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;">&nbsp;</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Through speeches and interviews,</strong> the distinctions between the positions of the U.S. and China are becoming clearer.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Here are excerpts of comments</strong> made in the last week in different forums by Politburo member Yang Jiechi to the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Each was in a different venue,</strong> not speaking and responding to each other.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">I have paired</strong> these separate comments up by issue.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">For the most part these tell us </strong>what we already knew: that positions of China and of the U.S. are vastly divergent.</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Of particular importance</strong> though is China’s explicit statement of Hong Kong, the Uighurs, and Taiwan being ‘red lines’ for China.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">And statements of the U.S. intent</strong> to run right over them.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;">&nbsp;</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><span style="color: #d0021b"><strong style="font-weight: bold">On how to deal with the other</strong></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Mr. Yang:</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Over the past few years,</strong> the Trump administration adopted misguided policies against China, plunging the relationship into its most difficult period since the establishment of diplomatic ties.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Some in the United States,</strong> sticking to Cold War thinking, perceived China as a threat.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Their rhetoric and actions</strong> have interfered in China's internal affairs, undermined China's interests, and disrupted exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘There have also been attempts</strong> to seek "decoupling" and a so-called "new Cold War".’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘China should be seen as it is.</strong>&nbsp;The previous administration has pursued some misguided policies towards China. ‘</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The root cause,</strong> I would say, is a strategic misjudgment by some in the United States - they view China as a major strategic competitor, even an adversary.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘That, I am afraid,</strong> is historically, fundamentally and strategically wrong.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘It is a task for both China and the United States</strong> to restore the relationship to a predictable and constructive track of development, and to build a model of interaction between the two major countries that focuses on peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.’</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Mr. Blinken: ‘There’s no doubt</strong> that China poses the most significant challenge to us of any other country, but it’s a complicated one.’&nbsp;</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘There are adversarial aspects</strong> to the relationship, there are certainly competitive ones, and there are still some cooperative ones, too.’&nbsp;</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘But whether we’re dealing</strong> with any of those aspects of the relationship, we have to be able to approach China from a position of strength, not weakness.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘And that strength,</strong> I think, comes from having strong alliances, something China does not have; actually engaging in the world and showing up in these international institutions.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Because we when pull back, </strong>China fills in and then they’re the ones writing the rules and setting the norms of these institutions;’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'standing up for our values</strong> when China is challenging them, including in Xinjiang against the Uyghurs or democracy in Hong Kong;’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'making sure that our military</strong> is postured so that it can deter Chinese aggression; and investing in our own people so that they can fully compete.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><span style="color: #d0021b"><strong style="font-weight: bold">On China’s aims</strong></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Mr. Yang: ‘China never exports</strong> its development model or seeks ideological confrontation.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'China has no intention</strong> to challenge or replace the U.S. position in the world, or to carve out a sphere of influence.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Mr. Sullivan:</strong> ‘China is essentially making the case that the Chinese model is better than the American model.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘And they're pointing</strong> to dysfunction and division in the United States and saying, “Take a look at that, their system doesn't work, our system does.” ’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Increasingly over the last few years,</strong> you've heard their leaders right from the top speak more explicitly in these terms.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘This is not any one or some kind of implied contrast,</strong> it is an explicit statement that there is an alternative model to the democratic market economy model that these United States has been advancing over the course of decades.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><span style="color: #d0021b"><strong style="font-weight: bold">On Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and Taiwan</strong></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Mr. Yang:</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘We</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold">expect the United States</strong> to honor its commitment under the three Sino-U.S. Joint Communiqués, strictly abide by the One China principle, and respect China's position and concerns on the Taiwan question.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The United States</strong> should stop interference in the affairs of Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang, which all matter to China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and stop attempts to hold back China's development by meddling in China's internal affairs.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘They constitute a red line</strong> that must not be crossed.’</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Mr. Sullivan:</strong><strong style="font-weight: bold">The U.S</strong>. is ‘prepared to act as well to impose costs for what China is doing in Xinjiang, what it’s doing in Hong Kong, for the bellicosity of threats that it is projecting towards Taiwan.’</p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="height:2rem; font-size:0; background-color:#f5f5f5;">&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td width="100%"><span style="display: block;margin-bottom:0px;padding: 10px;color:#ffffff;background-color:#c80000;text-align:center;font-family:'Lato';font-size:1.75rem;line-height:2.75rem;font-weight:bold;">1. China Lays Out Its Position</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table class="noBorder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:5% 3.5%"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="50px" style="display:block; padding-top:10px;"><a href="http://sco.lt/6eOLpY?track_p_id=djvs6YMeTGkTl58R7Bfy_1x" target="_blank" title="SourceLogo" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 0px solid #008dc8!important;"><img height="50px" width="auto" alt="SourceLogo" src="https://img.scoop.it/lgkJei81KjDB7sLYM9uWOUi__cjguAuwrRM5-qsdIhQ=" style="border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius:10%; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19); width:auto;"></a></td><td width="100%" style="padding-left:5%; color:#001544; font-size:27px; line-height:41px; font-weight:700; font-family: 'Lato'"><a href="http://sco.lt/6eOLpY?track_p_id=1j8R7Bfy_voM3a3YYVJmEgg" style="color:#001544; text-decoration: none; border-bottom:none;" target="_blank">'A Conversation with Politburo Member Yang Jiechi'</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://sco.lt/6eOLpY?track_p_id=6yOTp3B8R7Bfy_lMXBpoUTw" target="_blank" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><img width="100%" src="https://img.scoop.it/yEUDxMgtwuG-bz63O6E_zjl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBWpnB4YU4myT9-8UqDpoJyK" style="display:block; width:100%; border:none; height:auto"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"></p><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 13px;line-height: 22px;font-weight: normal;color: #5f5f5d;display: block;margin-block-start: 0em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">National Committee on U.S.-China Relations</strong></h3><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 13px;line-height: 22px;font-weight: normal;color: #5f5f5d;display: block;margin-block-start: 0em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Yang Jiechi</strong>&nbsp;| PRC Politburo</h3><h2 style="font-family: Georgia, serif;font-size: 20px;line-height: 32px;font-weight: normal;color: #c80000;text-align: center;display: block;background-color: #f7f7f6;padding: 2.5% 5%;border: 1px solid #fffffe;margin-block-start: 1.2em!important;margin-block-end: 1.2em!important;"><em style="font-style: italic"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘History and reality have shown time and again that these issues concern China's core interests, national dignity, as well as the sentiments of its 1.4 billion people. They constitute a red line that must not be crossed.’</strong></em></h2><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 13px;line-height: 22px;font-weight: normal;color: #5f5f5d;display: block;margin-block-start: 0em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><em style="font-style: italic">In his first speech to an American audience since the Biden administration took office,&nbsp;Politburo Member Yang Jiechi, director of the Office of the Central Committee for Foreign Affairs of the Politburo of the 19th CPC Central Committee, spoke on the state of U.S.-China relations and prospects for the future.&nbsp;</em></h3><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 13px;line-height: 22px;font-weight: normal;color: #5f5f5d;display: block;margin-block-start: 0em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWrL_lHLQic&amp;feature=youtu.be" target="_blank" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><em style="font-style: italic"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Watch </strong></em></a><em style="font-style: italic"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Mr. Yang's address</strong></em></h3><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 13px;line-height: 22px;font-weight: normal;color: #5f5f5d;display: block;margin-block-start: 0em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><a href="https://www.ncuscr.org/yang-jiechi-event-transcript" target="_blank" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><em style="font-style: italic"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Read </strong></em></a><em style="font-style: italic"><strong style="font-weight: bold">the full transcript</strong></em></h3><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘For the past few years,</strong> the Trump administration adopted misguided policies against China, plunging the relationship into its most difficult period since the establishment of diplomatic ties.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Some in the United States,</strong> sticking to Cold War thinking, perceived China as a threat.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Their rhetoric and actions</strong> have interfered in China's internal affairs, undermined China's interests, and disrupted exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘There have also been attempts</strong> to seek "decoupling" and a so-called "new Cold War".’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘China calls</strong> for establishing a new type of international relations characterized by mutual respect, fairness, justice, and win-win cooperation, and for building a community with a shared future for mankind.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘This is both</strong> our vision and our guide for action.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘More than a week ago,</strong> the Biden administration officially took office.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘China-U.S. relations</strong> now stand at a key moment and face new opportunities and new challenges.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘People in the two countries</strong> and beyond are watching closely as to where this relationship is heading.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘It is a task for both China and the United States</strong> to restore the relationship to a predictable and constructive track of development, and to build a model of interaction between the two major countries that focuses on peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘By focusing on cooperation and managing differences together,</strong> the two sides will be able to return the relationship to the course of sound and steady development.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘For that to happen,</strong> I believe the following are most important:’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘First, China should be seen as it is.</strong>&nbsp;The previous administration has pursued some misguided policies towards China. ‘</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The root cause,</strong> I would say, is a strategic misjudgment by some in the United States - they view China as a major strategic competitor, even an adversary.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">&nbsp;‘That, I am afraid,</strong> is historically, fundamentally and strategically wrong.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘China's development</strong> is essentially about bettering the lives of its people.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘China is committed</strong> to the path of peaceful development, a win-win strategy of opening-up, and a development that is shared by all countries, the United States included.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Third, proper management of differences is called for.’</strong>&nbsp;</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘China never meddles</strong> in the internal affairs of the United States, including its elections.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘China never exports</strong> its development model or seeks ideological confrontation.'&nbsp;</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'China has no intention</strong> to challenge or replace the U.S. position in the world, or to carve out a sphere of influence.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Likewise, </strong>we expect the United States to honor its commitment under the three Sino-U.S. Joint Communiqués, strictly abide by the One China principle, and respect China's position and concerns on the Taiwan question.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The United States</strong> should stop interference in the affairs of Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang, which all matter to China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and stop attempts to hold back China's development by meddling in China's internal affairs.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘History and reality</strong> have shown time and again that these issues concern China's core interests, national dignity, as well as the sentiments of its 1.4 billion people.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘They constitute a red line</strong> that must not be crossed.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Any trespassing would end up </strong>undermining China-U.S. relations and the United States' own interests.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘We in China</strong> hope that the U.S. side will fully understand the sensitivity of these issues and handle them with prudence, so as to avoid disruption or damage to mutual trust and cooperation.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="height:2rem; font-size:0; background-color:#f5f5f5;">&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td width="100%"><span style="display: block;margin-bottom:0px;padding: 10px;color:#ffffff;background-color:#c80000;text-align:center;font-family:'Lato';font-size:1.75rem;line-height:2.75rem;font-weight:bold;">2. The U.S. Lays Out Its Position</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table class="noBorder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:5% 3.5%"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="50px" style="display:block; padding-top:10px;"><a href="http://sco.lt/6zgGaO?track_p_id=4zBKH65IrnS_%40cFcoutqr1p" target="_blank" title="SourceLogo" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 0px solid #008dc8!important;"><img height="50px" width="auto" alt="SourceLogo" src="https://img.scoop.it/baCoA2F61vu8N9uXdT0ZMEi__cjguAuwrRM5-qsdIhQ=" style="border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius:10%; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19); width:auto;"></a></td><td width="100%" style="padding-left:5%; color:#001544; font-size:27px; line-height:41px; font-weight:700; font-family: 'Lato'"><a href="http://sco.lt/6zgGaO?track_p_id=erHqj%40Ro%40WVdYUx65IrnS_d" style="color:#001544; text-decoration: none; border-bottom:none;" target="_blank">'Biden's whole-of-National Security Council China strategy'</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://sco.lt/6zgGaO?track_p_id=9EZb4nsS3165IrnS_gdRoT5" target="_blank" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><img width="100%" src="https://img.scoop.it/pKhgbxYXWIAEt8Y78M32tjl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBWpnB4YU4myT9-8UqDpoJyK" style="display:block; width:100%; border:none; height:auto"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"></p><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 13px;line-height: 22px;font-weight: normal;color: #5f5f5d;display: block;margin-block-start: 0em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Axios</strong></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 13px;line-height: 22px;font-weight: normal;color: #5f5f5d;display: block;margin-block-start: 0em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian</strong> | Axios</h3><h2 style="text-align: center;font-family: Georgia, serif;font-size: 20px;line-height: 32px;font-weight: normal;color: #c80000;display: block;background-color: #f7f7f6;padding: 2.5% 5%;border: 1px solid #fffffe;margin-block-start: 1.2em!important;margin-block-end: 1.2em!important;"><em style="font-style: italic"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'National security adviser&nbsp;Jake Sullivan is personally focused on China as a priority, building capacity across departments and agencies and running processes that break down old silos between foreign and domestic policy.'</strong></em></h2><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Virtually every team in the National Security Council,</strong> from technology to global health to international economics, will incorporate China into their work, Axios has learned.’</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Why it matters:</strong>&nbsp;This is a concrete example of the "whole-of-government" approach toward China that officials from both the Biden and Trump administrations have supported.’</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The big picture:</strong>&nbsp;"Kurt Campbell’s Indo-Pacific team will be the largest regional NSC directorate, a sign of how this NSC is prioritizing China and broader Indo-Pacific policy issues," NSC spokesperson Emily Horne told Axios. "But work on China expands into virtually every NSC directorate," Horne added, including the following teams:’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Technology and national security,</strong> led by senior director Tarun Chhabra.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Global health security and biodefense,</strong> led by senior director Beth Cameron.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Defense,</strong> led by senior director Cara Abercrombie.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Democracy and human rights,</strong> led by coordinator Shanthi Kalathil.'</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘International economics,</strong> led by senior director Peter Harrell.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘ "National security adviser&nbsp;</strong>Jake Sullivan is personally focused on China as a priority, building capacity across departments and agencies and running processes that break down old silos between foreign and domestic policy," said Horne.’</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="background-color:#f5f5f5;"><tbody><tr><td style="height:2rem; font-size:20px;">&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table class="noBorder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:5% 3.5%"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="50px" style="display:block; padding-top:10px;"><a href="http://sco.lt/6hEL8C?track_p_id=daBuK53wuSuZQA62BHMk_5S" target="_blank" title="SourceLogo" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 0px solid #008dc8!important;"><img height="50px" width="auto" alt="SourceLogo" src="https://img.scoop.it/jiIgWMrH-A4uGzApdvOfh0i__cjguAuwrRM5-qsdIhQ=" style="border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius:10%; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19); width:auto;"></a></td><td width="100%" style="padding-left:5%; color:#001544; font-size:27px; line-height:41px; font-weight:700; font-family: 'Lato'"><a href="http://sco.lt/6hEL8C?track_p_id=a3K5sGZI2sP62BHMk_uBBdX" style="color:#001544; text-decoration: none; border-bottom:none;" target="_blank">'National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on U.S. Policy Toward China'</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://sco.lt/6hEL8C?track_p_id=cSk4I53AWkXcK62BHMk_aZ5" target="_blank" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><img width="100%" src="https://img.scoop.it/w8bBY_ATzDqwyWreqSj2czl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBWpnB4YU4myT9-8UqDpoJyK" style="display:block; width:100%; border:none; height:auto"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"></p><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 13px;line-height: 22px;font-weight: normal;color: #5f5f5d;display: block;margin-block-start: 0em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">United States Institute of Peace</strong></h3><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 13px;line-height: 22px;font-weight: normal;color: #5f5f5d;display: block;margin-block-start: 0em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Jake Sullivan | </strong>U.S. National Security Advisor</h3><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 13px;line-height: 22px;font-weight: normal;color: #5f5f5d;display: block;margin-block-start: 0em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Condoleezza Rice | </strong>former U.S. Secretary of State</h3><h2 style="text-align: center;font-family: Georgia, serif;font-size: 20px;line-height: 32px;font-weight: normal;color: #c80000;display: block;background-color: #f7f7f6;padding: 2.5% 5%;border: 1px solid #fffffe;margin-block-start: 1.2em!important;margin-block-end: 1.2em!important;"><em style="font-style: italic"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Being prepared to act as well to impose costs for what China is doing in Xinjiang, what it’s doing in Hong Kong, fo</strong></em><strong style="font-weight: bold">r the bellicosity of threats that it is projecting towards Taiwan.’</strong></h2><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 13px;line-height: 22px;font-weight: normal;color: #5f5f5d;display: block;margin-block-start: 0em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><a href="https://www.usip.org/events/passing-baton-2021-securing-americas-future-together" rel="nofollow" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><em style="font-style: italic"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Watch</strong></em></a><em style="font-style: italic"><strong style="font-weight: bold"> the event</strong></em></h3><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><span style="color: #d0021b"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Secretary Condoleezza Rice:</strong></span><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Can you talk</strong> a little bit about interests, values, and maybe in the context of China?’</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><span style="color: #d0021b"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Jake Sullivan:</strong></span><strong style="font-weight: bold"> ‘I think there are four major steps </strong>that the United States needs to take to contend with the challenges you just outlined.’</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Step one is to recognize that China</strong> is essentially making the case that the Chinese model is better than the American model.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘And they're pointing</strong> to dysfunction and division in the United States and saying, “Take a look at that, their system doesn't work, our system does.” ’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Increasingly over the last few years,</strong> you've heard their leaders right from the top speak more explicitly in these terms.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘This is not any one or some kind of implied contrast,</strong> it is an explicit statement that there is an alternative model to the democratic market economy model that these United States has been advancing over the course of decades.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘So, step one,</strong> is to go back to this point about domestic renewal, is to refurbish the fundamental foundations of our democracy.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘That goes for everything</strong> from our democratic system itself, to issues of racial inequity, to issues of economic inequality, all of the things that have contributed to the shine coming off the American model over the course of time.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Step two</strong> is to recognize that we are going to be most effective in advancing our vision for what a free, prosperous, equitable society looks like if we are doing so in lockstep with democratic allies and partners.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘By ourselves,</strong> we represent about a quarter of the world's economy. With our allies and partners in both Europe and Asia, we represent more than half of the world’s economy.'</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘That provides us</strong> not just the kind of leverage we need to be able to produce outcomes, but it provides us a chorus of voices that can drive the argument that says, “We are going to stand up for a certain set of principles in the face of aggression and the kinds of steps that China has taken.” ’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The third step</strong> is to recognize something you said, which is, all of this really comes home to roost with technology, and who ultimately is going to be leading the world on key emerging technologies in the future—artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotechnology, clean energy, and so much else.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘That requires a combination</strong> of working closely with allies and partners and making an aggressive, ambitious public investment here in the United States so that we stay on the cutting edge.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘And then the last step</strong> is speaking with clarity and consistency on these issues - being prepared to act as well to impose costs for what China is doing in Xinjiang, what it’s doing in Hong Kong, for the bellicosity of threats that it is projecting towards Taiwan.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘This administration is intent,</strong> at every level, from the president, across the State Department, the Defense Department, every embassy around the world, to speaking with that clarity and consistency and voice, and that will be an important part of our strategy as well.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘That's obviously not a complete picture</strong> of this complex challenge, but gives you some sense of the way that we’re thinking about China.’</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="background-color:#f5f5f5;"><tbody><tr><td style="height:2rem; font-size:20px;">&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table class="noBorder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:5% 3.5%"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="50px" style="display:block; padding-top:10px;"><a href="http://sco.lt/5GJUdU?track_p_id=bCFvX3rxR3b35FHsD8_fHw4" target="_blank" title="SourceLogo" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 0px solid #008dc8!important;"><img height="50px" width="auto" alt="SourceLogo" src="https://img.scoop.it/qDQLu84wJNJ4_JheRta55Ei__cjguAuwrRM5-qsdIhQ=" style="border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius:10%; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19); width:auto;"></a></td><td width="100%" style="padding-left:5%; color:#001544; font-size:27px; line-height:41px; font-weight:700; font-family: 'Lato'"><a href="http://sco.lt/5GJUdU?track_p_id=bNsk3Sc1RnRz5FHsD8_dT34" style="color:#001544; text-decoration: none; border-bottom:none;" target="_blank">'Secretary of State Antony Blinken on U.S. Policy Toward China'</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://sco.lt/5GJUdU?track_p_id=5yiW%40K5FHsD8_ysheUXbXCp" target="_blank" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><img width="100%" src="https://img.scoop.it/ozsL2zNY7gp0I5h5ngWyzTl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBWpnB4YU4myT9-8UqDpoJyK" style="display:block; width:100%; border:none; height:auto"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"></p><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 13px;line-height: 22px;font-weight: normal;color: #5f5f5d;display: block;margin-block-start: 0em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">MSNBC</strong></h3><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 13px;line-height: 22px;font-weight: normal;color: #5f5f5d;display: block;margin-block-start: 0em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Anthony Blinken</strong> | U.S. Secretary of State</h3><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 13px;line-height: 22px;font-weight: normal;color: #5f5f5d;display: block;margin-block-start: 0em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Andrea Mitchell</strong> | MSNBC</h3><h2 style="text-align: center;font-family: Georgia, serif;font-size: 20px;line-height: 32px;font-weight: normal;color: #c80000;display: block;background-color: #f7f7f6;padding: 2.5% 5%;border: 1px solid #fffffe;margin-block-start: 1.2em!important;margin-block-end: 1.2em!important;"><em style="font-style: italic"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘There’s no doubt that China poses the most significant challenge to us of any other country, but it’s a complicated one.’&nbsp;</strong></em></h2><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 13px;line-height: 22px;font-weight: normal;color: #5f5f5d;display: block;margin-block-start: 0em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><a href="https://www.msnbc.com/andrea-mitchell-reports/watch/secy-of-state-blinken-china-poses-the-most-significant-challenge-to-the-u-s-100353605713" rel="nofollow" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><em style="font-style: italic"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Watch</strong></em></a><em style="font-style: italic"><strong style="font-weight: bold"> the video interview</strong></em></h3><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><span style="color: #d0021b"><strong style="font-weight: bold">ANDREA MITCHELL:</strong></span>&nbsp;<strong style="font-weight: bold">‘You’ve said that China</strong> is the most significant threat – you said that in your confirmation hearing – against American national interests.&nbsp; Would you take steps if there is any action by China against Taiwan?&nbsp; Do you see a military confrontation possibly in our future with China?’</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><span style="color: #d0021b"><strong style="font-weight: bold">SECRETARY BLINKEN:</strong></span><span style="color: #d0021b">&nbsp;</span><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘There’s no doubt that China </strong>poses the most significant challenge to us of any other country, but it’s a complicated one.’&nbsp;</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘There are adversarial aspects</strong> to the relationship, there’s certainly competitive ones, and there’s still some cooperative ones, too.’&nbsp;</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘But whether we’re dealing</strong> with any of those aspects of the relationship, we have to be able to approach China from a position of strength, not weakness.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘And that strength,</strong> I think, comes from having strong alliances, something China does not have; actually engaging in the world and showing up in these international institutions.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Because we when pull back, </strong>China fills in and then they’re the ones writing the rules and setting the norms of these institutions;’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'standing up for our values</strong> when China is challenging them, including in Xinjiang against the Uyghurs or democracy in Hong Kong;’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'making sure that our military</strong> is postured so that it can deter Chinese aggression; and investing in our own people so that they can fully compete.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘But the good news</strong> about each of these is that they’re fully within our control.’&nbsp;</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘And in many ways,</strong> the challenge posed by China is as much about some of our own self-inflicted weaknesses as it is about China’s emerging strength.&nbsp; But we can address those weaknesses.’&nbsp;</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘We can actually build back better</strong> in this area too when it comes to stronger alliances, when it comes to engaging in the world, standing up for our values, investing in our people, making sure our military is properly postured.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><span style="color: #d0021b"><strong style="font-weight: bold">ANDREA MITCHELL:</strong></span>&nbsp;<strong style="font-weight: bold"> ‘Well, with the economy </strong>weighing so heavily on many Americans, millions of Americans, should we be lifting the tariffs that were imposed by President Trump on China?'</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><span style="color: #d0021b"><strong style="font-weight: bold">SECRETARY BLINKEN:</strong></span>&nbsp;<strong style="font-weight: bold">‘We’re reviewing</strong> all of that.’&nbsp;</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘We have to make sure</strong> that any time we act, the first question we ask ourselves is:&nbsp; Is this advancing the interests of our own people?&nbsp; Is it making them more prosperous?&nbsp; Is it advancing their security?&nbsp; Is it extending their values?&nbsp; That’s the first question we have to ask.’&nbsp;</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘And so when it comes to something like a tariff,</strong> is it doing more harm to us than it is to the country they’re being wielded against?&nbsp; That’s the question we’re asking.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><span style="color: #d0021b"><strong style="font-weight: bold">ANDREA MITCHELL:</strong></span><span style="color: #d0021b">&nbsp;</span><strong style="font-weight: bold"> ‘Should the U.S. join Britain </strong>in opening its doors to refugees fleeing the political repression in Hong Kong?’</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><span style="color: #d0021b"><strong style="font-weight: bold">SECRETARY BLINKEN:&nbsp;</strong></span><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘I believe we should.&nbsp;</strong> We’ve seen China act egregiously to undermine the very commitments it made during the handover of Hong Kong to – from Britain.’&nbsp;</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘We see people in Hong Kong</strong> standing up for their own rights, the rights that they felt were guaranteed to them.’&nbsp;</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘And if they are the victims of repression</strong> from Chinese authorities, we should do something to give them haven.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="height:2rem; font-size:0; background-color:#f5f5f5;">&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td width="100%"><span style="display: block;margin-bottom:0px;padding: 10px;color:#ffffff;background-color:#c80000;text-align:center;font-family:'Lato';font-size:1.75rem;line-height:2.75rem;font-weight:bold;">3. Burma: At the Center of the U.S.-China Competition</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table class="noBorder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:5% 3.5%"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="50px" style="display:block; padding-top:10px;"><a href="http://sco.lt/76lxmy?track_p_id=7cdGYaV57eS542_UWEZ1yCL" target="_blank" title="SourceLogo" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 0px solid #008dc8!important;"><img height="50px" width="auto" alt="SourceLogo" src="https://img.scoop.it/K9fKxwrt-0GqvuYSovNp30i__cjguAuwrRM5-qsdIhQ=" style="border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius:10%; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19); width:auto;"></a></td><td width="100%" style="padding-left:5%; color:#001544; font-size:27px; line-height:41px; font-weight:700; font-family: 'Lato'"><a href="http://sco.lt/76lxmy?track_p_id=9SHRER12TP7eS542_WNKW3X" style="color:#001544; text-decoration: none; border-bottom:none;" target="_blank">'Burma’s Coup and Biden’s Choice'</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://sco.lt/76lxmy?track_p_id=5Cyq4D7eS542_i56ZzPBZXG" target="_blank" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><img width="100%" src="https://img.scoop.it/LWzpioVEF4FAl0SaEZJ-Wzl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBWpnB4YU4myT9-8UqDpoJyK" style="display:block; width:100%; border:none; height:auto"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"></p><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 13px;line-height: 22px;font-weight: normal;color: #5f5f5d;display: block;margin-block-start: 0em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">The Wall Street Journal</strong></h3><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 13px;line-height: 22px;font-weight: normal;color: #5f5f5d;display: block;margin-block-start: 0em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">The Editorial Board </strong>| The Wall Street Journal</h3><h2 style="text-align: center;font-family: Georgia, serif;font-size: 20px;line-height: 32px;font-weight: normal;color: #c80000;display: block;background-color: #f7f7f6;padding: 2.5% 5%;border: 1px solid #fffffe;margin-block-start: 1.2em!important;margin-block-end: 1.2em!important;"><em style="font-style: italic"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The top U.S. priority in Asia is limiting Beijing’s ability to control independent states like Burma, which is strategically situated in the Indo-Pacific. The U.S. response needs to take into account China’s regional designs.’</strong></em></h2><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘From protests in Moscow to Chinese air incursions over Taiwan,</strong> the world is wasting no time testing&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/topics/person/joe-biden" rel="nofollow" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;">Joe Biden</a>’s foreign policy team of liberal internationalists.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘On Monday Americans</strong> woke up to the news of a swift and (so far) bloodless coup in Burma, whose transition to democratic government was touted by the Obama Administration as one of its major achievements.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The Biden Administration</strong> is rightly denouncing the move, but the U.S. has limited leverage acting alone.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The West</strong> has used market access as a carrot to urge Burma’s military rulers to cede power to Ms. Suu Kyi.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Yet the extent</strong> that a power transition actually occurred was exaggerated.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘A return to economically isolating</strong> the country of 54 million on China’s southern border could hurt the Burmese people and play into Beijing’s hands.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘As our Walter Russell Mead&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-myanmars-military-duped-the-west-11568069031?mod=article_inline" rel="nofollow" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;">wrote in 2019</a>, “Western fecklessness has made China look to Myanmar like a more stable and reliable partner.” '</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The top U.S. priority in Asia </strong>is limiting Beijing’s ability to control independent states like Burma, which is strategically situated in the Indo-Pacific.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The U.S. response</strong> needs to take into account China’s regional designs.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘China is holding back </strong>from condemning the coup, likely in hopes of making diplomatic inroads with a military government.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Yet U.S. ability</strong> to engage will be reduced if Burma falls further into China’s orbit.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Burma poses</strong> difficult dilemmas on democracy and human rights.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Yet U.S. ability to</strong> engage will be reduced if Burma falls further into China’s orbit.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The American response </strong>to the coup must take into account the strategic landscape in Asia.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘That will require realistic diplomacy,</strong> not only moral denunciation.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="background-color:#f5f5f5;"><tbody><tr><td style="height:2rem; font-size:20px;">&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table class="noBorder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:5% 3.5%"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="50px" style="display:block; padding-top:10px;"><a href="http://sco.lt/7cZ2MC?track_p_id=alDROnB2SfR5hoYmc_IxbHw" target="_blank" title="SourceLogo" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 0px solid #008dc8!important;"><img height="50px" width="auto" alt="SourceLogo" src="https://img.scoop.it/N1UTyYkNMIzOCwazyW-l0Ui__cjguAuwrRM5-qsdIhQ=" style="border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius:10%; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19); width:auto;"></a></td><td width="100%" style="padding-left:5%; color:#001544; font-size:27px; line-height:41px; font-weight:700; font-family: 'Lato'"><a href="http://sco.lt/7cZ2MC?track_p_id=05hoYmc_6VbyifLvxxrm4sa" style="color:#001544; text-decoration: none; border-bottom:none;" target="_blank">'Coup a further complication for tricky Myanmar-China ties'&nbsp;</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://sco.lt/7cZ2MC?track_p_id=1a5hoYmc_lMGO5XOqTVc%40zf" target="_blank" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><img width="100%" src="https://img.scoop.it/saQiCLkrhn8HZ4lSd4vJmDl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBWpnB4YU4myT9-8UqDpoJyK" style="display:block; width:100%; border:none; height:auto"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"></p><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 13px;line-height: 22px;font-weight: normal;color: #5f5f5d;display: block;margin-block-start: 0em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Associated Press</strong></h3><h2 style="text-align: center;font-family: Georgia, serif;font-size: 20px;line-height: 32px;font-weight: normal;color: #c80000;display: block;background-color: #f7f7f6;padding: 2.5% 5%;border: 1px solid #fffffe;margin-block-start: 1.2em!important;margin-block-end: 1.2em!important;"><em style="font-style: italic"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Even if China played no role at all in ousting Suu Kyi, Beijing is likely to gain still greater sway over the country.’</strong></em></h2><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Before Monday’s coup in Myanmar,</strong> the country’s relations with China already were complicated by Chinese investments in its infrastructure and the Myanmar military’s campaigns along their shared border.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘China has invested billions of dollars in Myanmar</strong> mines, oil and gas pipelines and other infrastructure and is its biggest trading partner.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘And China has massive commitments</strong> to projects in mining, hydropower and other construction, part of the $21.5 billion it has pledged in investment in Myanmar.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘An anchor of Beijing’s “Belt and Road Initiative”</strong> to build infrastructure across much of Asia linking its economy to the rest of the world, it will give China coveted overland access to the Bay of Bengal.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Suu Kyi’s government</strong> had been slowly moving ahead on such projects, some of which face strong local opposition.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The coup deposed national leader Aung San Suu Kyi </strong>a little over a year after Chinese President Xi Jinping made a show of support to her with the first visit by a head of state from Beijing to Myanmar since 2001 and 33 agreements on a wide range of issues.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Suu Kyi</strong> has shifted closer to Beijing in the past few years.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘ “It was always a risk</strong> that the military would step in to try and shore up their power,” Champa Patel, director of the Asia-Pacific Program at Chatham House in London said in an emailed statement.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘ “Their insecurity</strong> has deepened as (Suu Kyi) consolidated her power within the country and deepened ties with countries such as China.” ’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘It was partly a backlash</strong> against China’s growing dominance of Myanmar’s economy a decade ago that led the previous junta to shift toward democratic reforms and the civilian government that enabled Suu Kyi to join Parliament and become the nation’s de facto leader, even as the military retained ultimate power.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘ “It was always a risk</strong> that the military would step in to try and shore up their power,” Champa Patel, director of the Asia-Pacific Program at Chatham House in London said in an emailed statement.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘ “Their insecurity</strong> has deepened as (Suu Kyi) consolidated her power within the country and deepened ties with countries such as China.” ’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Beijing’s initial reaction </strong>to the coup was measured.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘On Monday,</strong> Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said China was studying the situation, describing Myanmar as a “friendly neighbor.” ’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘He urged Myanmar</strong> to properly handle the situation according to its laws and constitution and “maintain political and social stability.”' '</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘But while China’s ruling Communist Party</strong> tends to favor fellow authoritarian regimes, it has had a fractious history with Myanmar’s military, sometimes related to its campaigns against ethnic Chinese minority groups and the drug trade along their long, mountainous border.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Some have speculated that Beijing</strong> might have given a covert nod to the generals.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘But while the coup</strong> may lead Myanmar’s leaders to lean more heavily on support from China, supplier of most of their weapons and one of the country’s biggest sources of foreign investment, researcher Zhao Gancheng at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, says it was an unwelcome disruption.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘ “As a neighboring country,</strong> I can’t see anything good for China, given that all of China’s investments and infrastructure construction need a stable environment,” Zhao said. “China is concerned about this development,” he said.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Even if China played no role</strong> at all in ousting Suu Kyi, Beijing is likely to gain still greater sway over the country, analysts say.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘That’s especially</strong> likely if the U.S. and other Western governments impose sanctions to try to punish the regime.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Regardless of what internal politics,</strong> antagonisms and personal ambitions might have driven Min Aung Hliang and other military leaders to seize power, China is bound to continue to expand its influence in Myanmar given the huge projects already under construction and the depth of Chinese involvement in businesses ranging from casinos, factories and property development to pipelines and ports.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘ “China will have greater leverage</strong> to pull Myanmar further into the orbit of its own plans for economic development,” said John G. Dale, a professor at George Mason University in Virginia.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="background-color:#f5f5f5;"><tbody><tr><td style="height:2rem; font-size:20px;">&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table class="noBorder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:5% 3.5%"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="50px" style="display:block; padding-top:10px;"><a href="http://sco.lt/7cZ2MC?track_p_id=cmSkb3YK2Sind5hoYmc_PbF" target="_blank" title="SourceLogo" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 0px solid #008dc8!important;"><img height="50px" width="auto" alt="SourceLogo" src="https://img.scoop.it/K9fKxwrt-0GqvuYSovNp30i__cjguAuwrRM5-qsdIhQ=" style="border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius:10%; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19); width:auto;"></a></td><td width="100%" style="padding-left:5%; color:#001544; font-size:27px; line-height:41px; font-weight:700; font-family: 'Lato'"><a href="http://sco.lt/7cZ2MC?track_p_id=8yvgldtDF5hoYmc_mUh3ONK" style="color:#001544; text-decoration: none; border-bottom:none;" target="_blank">'Coup Puts Myanmar at the Center of the U.S.-China Clash'</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://sco.lt/4xeMpk?track_p_id=8mKTlMNBn85vb2s_4jvDW5d" target="_blank" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><img width="100%" src="https://img.scoop.it/D2KMfNRbzeWp-0iLEZafcDl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBWpnB4YU4myT9-8UqDpoJyK" style="display:block; width:100%; border:none; height:auto"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"></p><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 13px;line-height: 22px;font-weight: normal;color: #5f5f5d;display: block;margin-block-start: 0em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">The Wall Street Journal</strong></h3><h2 style="text-align: center;font-family: Georgia, serif;font-size: 20px;line-height: 32px;font-weight: normal;color: #c80000;display: block;background-color: #f7f7f6;padding: 2.5% 5%;border: 1px solid #fffffe;margin-block-start: 1.2em!important;margin-block-end: 1.2em!important;"><em style="font-style: italic"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Chinese oil and gas pipelines snake across Myanmar from China’s landlocked Yunnan province to the Bay of Bengal—a route that Beijing wants to transform into a broader economic corridor with road and rail connections.’</strong></em></h2><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘</strong><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-is-alarmed-by-reports-of-military-actions-in-myanmar-white-house-says-11612145833?mod=article_inline" rel="nofollow" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Myanmar</strong></a><strong style="font-weight: bold">’s transition from military rule</strong> toward democracy that began a decade ago was trumpeted as a strategic victory for Washington in China’s backyard.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Eager to blunt Beijing’s influence,</strong> Myanmar opened its doors to diplomatic and commercial ties with the West.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘On Monday,</strong> Myanmar’s soldiers seized power in a coup, detaining Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian leaders.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The takeover,</strong> coming against the backdrop of a deepening U.S.-China rivalry, pits the foreign-policy strategies of the two powers against each other.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘And it thrusts Myanmar </strong>on to the front lines of an increasingly tense geopolitical competition for global leadership.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The U.S. has framed its approach to Myanmar</strong> as a push for democracy and human rights.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The focus of Beijing,</strong> which says it has a policy of noninterference in the domestic affairs of other countries, has largely been on economic and strategic interests.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The differences were clear</strong> in the response by the two nations to the coup.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘President Biden </strong>pressed the Myanmar military to relinquish power and raised the possibility of imposing sanctions.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Mr. Biden</strong> said he would reach out to partners in the region—an effort that tests his promise to marshal the world’s democracies against authoritarian states.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The State Department</strong> on Tuesday officially&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-labels-detention-of-myanmar-leader-aung-san-suu-kyi-a-coup-11612282701?mod=article_inline" rel="nofollow" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;">labeled the episode a coup</a>.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘China took a muted stand,</strong> expressing hope that all sides would “properly manage their differences.” ’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘ “Chinese strategy has always been,</strong> ‘We will work with whoever comes to power.’ I call it China’s moral flexibility,” said Yun Sun, a China specialist at the Stimson Center, a Washington think tank.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘For Beijing,</strong> neighboring Myanmar offers a strategic gateway to the Indian Ocean, and it is a source of minerals, timber and other resources.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Chinese oil and gas pipelines </strong>snake across Myanmar from China’s landlocked Yunnan province to the Bay of Bengal—a route that Beijing wants to transform into a broader economic corridor with road and rail connections.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘For Washington,</strong> Myanmar is a place where U.S. officials saw an opening to turn a pariah into a partner, score a win for democracy and erode China’s dominance.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘ “The dilemma for the new Biden administration is twofold:</strong> additional U.S. sanctions will have only marginal impact on the Burmese military, which is largely immune to unilateral U.S. measures,” said Daniel Russel, a former senior State Department official.’</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘ “Secondly,</strong> China is only too happy to step in and support the Burmese military as part of its ongoing effort to maximize its influence in Southeast Asia,” he said.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Western countries</strong> imposed sweeping sanctions against Myanmar, banning investment, trade and travel.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Beijing swooped in to fill the void,</strong> enriching the military elite through investments in such sectors as resource extraction and becoming the country’s primary trade partner.’</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'In Myanmar,</strong> aides to Ms. Suu Kyi warned Western ambassadors that pressure on the country was pushing it closer to China.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'Beijing</strong> had become a vocal defender, blocking Western efforts for a resolution in the U.N. Security Council demanding an end to violent treatment of Rohingya. The council settled for a nonbinding statement.'</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'Suu Kyi’s office,</strong> in a nod to China, thanked those “who upheld the principle of noninterference in the internal affairs of sovereign countries.” '</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">In January last year,</strong> China’s leader Xi Jinping made a visit to Myanmar, the first by a Chinese head of state in almost two decades.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">'He signed a raft of agreements</strong> to jump-start the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor, a multibillion-dollar package of infrastructure, trade and energy projects.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="height:2rem; font-size:0; background-color:#f5f5f5;">&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td width="100%"><span style="display: block;margin-bottom:0px;padding: 10px;color:#ffffff;background-color:#c80000;text-align:center;font-family:'Lato';font-size:1.75rem;line-height:2.75rem;font-weight:bold;">4. Burma or Myanmar?</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table class="noBorder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="noPadding" style="padding:5% 3.5%"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="50px" style="display:block; padding-top:10px;"><a href="http://sco.lt/6O014K?track_p_id=blavGxI2fvjj6xNS4k_PW4W" target="_blank" title="SourceLogo" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 0px solid #008dc8!important;"><img height="50px" width="auto" alt="SourceLogo" src="https://img.scoop.it/N1UTyYkNMIzOCwazyW-l0Ui__cjguAuwrRM5-qsdIhQ=" style="border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius:10%; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19); width:auto;"></a></td><td width="100%" style="padding-left:5%; color:#001544; font-size:27px; line-height:41px; font-weight:700; font-family: 'Lato'"><a href="http://sco.lt/6O014K?track_p_id=5twb2U6xNS4k_UMB3dXHJf2" style="color:#001544; text-decoration: none; border-bottom:none;" target="_blank">'Myanmar, Burma and why the different names matter'</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://sco.lt/6O014K?track_p_id=3HvI6xNS4k_yCYPZXjCk51Y" target="_blank" style="color: inherit!important;text-decoration: none!important;border-bottom: 1px solid #008dc8!important;"><img width="100%" src="https://img.scoop.it/FGNgTEJRMbNsF6V2Bp943Dl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBWpnB4YU4myT9-8UqDpoJyK" style="display:block; width:100%; border:none; height:auto"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="padding:0 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%;"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"></p><h3 style="font-family: 'Lato';font-size: 13px;line-height: 22px;font-weight: normal;color: #5f5f5d;display: block;margin-block-start: 0em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">Associated Press</strong></h3><h2 style="text-align: center;font-family: Georgia, serif;font-size: 20px;line-height: 32px;font-weight: normal;color: #c80000;display: block;background-color: #f7f7f6;padding: 2.5% 5%;border: 1px solid #fffffe;margin-block-start: 1.2em!important;margin-block-end: 1.2em!important;"><span style="color: #d0021b"><em style="font-style: italic"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Unlike most of the world, the U.S. government still officially uses "Burma." '</strong></em></span></h2><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘For generations,</strong> the country was called Burma, after the dominant Burman ethnic group.’</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘But in 1989,</strong> one year after the ruling junta brutally suppressed a pro-democracy uprising, military leaders suddenly changed its name to Myanmar.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘By then,</strong> Burma was an international pariah, desperate for any way to improve its image.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Hoping for a sliver of international legitimacy,</strong> it said it was discarding a name handed down from its colonial past and to foster ethnic unity.'</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The old name,</strong> officials said, excluded the country’s many ethnic minorities.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘At home, though,</strong> it changed nothing.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">In the Burmese language, </strong>“Myanmar” is simply the more formal version of “Burma.” '</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The country’s name</strong> was changed only in English.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘It was linguistic</strong> sleight-of-hand.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘But few people</strong> were fooled.'</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Much of the world</strong> showed defiance of the junta by refusing to use the new name.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘A little over a decade ago,</strong> the country began a stumbling semi-democratic transition.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘The military</strong> retained extensive political power, but opposition leaders were freed from prison and house arrest, and elections were allowed.'</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Longtime pro-democracy activist Suu Kyi</strong> became the country’s civilian leader.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Over the years,</strong> many countries and news outlets, including The Associated Press, had begun using the country’s official name.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘As repression eased</strong> and international opposition to the military became less vocal, “Myanmar” became increasingly common.'</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Inside the country,</strong> opposition leaders made clear it didn’t matter much anymore.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Unlike most of the world,</strong> the U.S. government still officially uses “Burma.” '</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘But even Washington</strong> has mellowed its stance.'</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘In 2012,</strong> during a visit to the country, then-President Barack Obama used both “Burma” and “Myanmar.” '</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘An adviser to Myanmar’s president</strong> called that “very positive” and said it was an “acknowledgment of Myanmar’s government.”</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Washington’s response to the coup</strong> seemed designed to highlight old criticisms, with both Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Joe Biden pointedly avoiding the country’s legal name.'</p><ul style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘ “The United States </strong>removed sanctions on Burma over the past decade based on progress toward democracy,” Biden said in a statement.</li><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;padding-top: 0rem!important;padding-bottom: 0rem!important;padding-left: 5px!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘ “The reversal of that progress</strong> will necessitate an immediate review of our sanction laws.” '</li></ul><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"><strong style="font-weight: bold">‘Most other countries,</strong> though, continued to call it Myanmar.'</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif!important;font-size: 16px!important;line-height: 26px!important;font-weight: normal!important;color: #001544!important;display: block!important;margin-block-start: 1em!important;margin-block-end: 0em!important;"></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div>