The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and "Making America Great Again" can go hand in hand...
Friday Flashpoint: May 15, AD2026
Welcome to Friday Flashpoint where I analyze and expose important historical and social developments impacting America in the world
To be near the goal while the enemy is still far from it, to wait at ease while the enemy is toiling and struggling, to be well-fed while the enemy is famished:—this is the art of husbanding one’s strength. — Sun Tzŭ on The Art of War, 7:31
At the beginning of the year, I wrote that American policymakers were mired in “wishcasting”—the act of substituting objective analysis with the daydream of desired outcomes—particularly regarding the United States’ standing relative to a resurgent China.1 At the end of 2025, that wishful thinking met reality as the People’s Republic of China established itself as a $41 trillion economy in terms of purchasing power parity. The PRC also ran up a record one-trillion-dollar trade surplus while the MAGA-led US was forced to retreat on tariffs. This shift is the background for POTUS’s state visit to China, where the pageantry of the People’s Liberation Army set the stage for China’s debut as America’s equal, something the USA has not faced since the fall of the Soviet Union. Yet even that historical comparison falters. The Soviet population advantage relied on the imperial domination of the non-Russian republics whose dedication to Moscow varied. The Chinese challenge is structurally different.
The Chinese dragon is not the Russian bear.
America’s new “equal” outnumbers the entire United States by several hundred million with their core Han Chinese population, and the Chinese economy is larger than the American economy, something the Soviets could never achieve.
If these two nations are equals, China is the first among equals, marking the first time the United States has slipped to the number-two position since before the First World War.
The American president stood in Tiananmen Square for the 21-gun salute that might as well have been announcing the arrival of the Chinese era. Almost two hundred years since the British humiliated China in the First Opium War, China is Great Again.
Chinese social media users and political commentators frequently use the shorthand "Chuan" for Trump, often pairing it with the name "Jianguo." A name often given to children born during the founding era of the People’s Republic, Jianguo translates literally to "building the nation." By combining these into "Comrade Chuan Jianguo"—Comrade Trump, Nation Builder—Chinese political commentators online are sneering as they cheer the effects the American president’s policies are having on making the nation great again. The nation in mind is China, not America. After 480 days back in office, America is more disliked, isolated, divided and struggling militarily than any time since the 1960s, and 100 times more in debt. 980 days left.
For the American president who turns 80 in one month, the visit is seen by some as an attempted diversion from domestic problems of his own making: soaring inflation and the humiliation of Operation Epic Fury’s failure to defeat Iran, a country that should be no match for the USA.
The American president has choked global energy supplies and forced Washington into a position of pleading supplication: the United States of America is begging for help with the Strait of Hormuz. But an insulted and threatened Europe has no reason to help, neither does Canada, and America’s other allies are not in a position to do so, even if they were so inclined. Africa is busy building internal strength to insulate from the shocks of the West. The world blames America for the energy and food crisis, and this makes China look better.
Of course, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that “The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and "Making America Great Again" can go hand in hand.” He has no reason to pick a fight with the Americans. That might wake them up. Rather, it is better to flatter them and let them run home claiming they have resolved tensions. Give the Americans a warning over Taiwan, knowing that the Americans may be irrational and choose to fight over Taipei’s autonomy from the mainland. In which case Iran has shown the limitations of American power projection and defense production capacity. America is famished of war, and China’s stockpiles are high. If America chooses non-confrontation, China will be glad, and that would likely be better for America in the long run as it needs serious reform and restoration. However, if the bellicose POTUS chooses confrontation, China will be ready and America likely will not be. Xi has little reason to interfere with America, no incentive to be cowed by it and every intention of allowing the American leadership the outlet to inflict their domestic policies on the American Union.
China can wait while America rots, by choice.
Do not interfere with an army that is returning home. When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. — Sun Tzŭ on The Art of War, 7:35/6
