Paper Tiger 纸老虎

Is China the opponent we think, or the one we want?

I first visited China in 1979, nearly 44 years ago. Although I have done many things that did not involve China over this span of decades, the country runs through my life like a silver thread, sometimes hidden below the surface of its fabric, but somehow always reappearing. In those halcyon days, I hardly thought that China could be considered a “strategic competitor” nor an enemy of the United States. It seemed like the beginning of a golden partnership.