Assessments of China based on cherry-picked phrases from party propaganda overlook the frequent gap between rhetoric and reality. Leading Chinese intellectuals openly acknowledge the difficulty of reconciling what China says with what it does. “Even we don’t believe much of what we say,” the Chinese economist Yao Yang, who is known for his pragmatic views, has said. But it is presently far from clear that it can — or even seeks to — replace the United States as the world’s dominant power. apparently see the United States as trying to keep China perpetually subordinate and vulnerable, opposing whatever China does or advocates in an international system that Beijing believes favors the United States and developed democracies.

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