Member-only story
Chairman Xi Jinping’s office. Member # 7 sits across.
Chairman — It took a lot of guts to say what you said.
Member # 7 — This is a historic moment. President Biden has seized the day in the West with his support of Ukraine and you can seize the day in the East. I believe you’re willing to accept that the stimulus from the West has been critical to our tremendous economic and military might.
Xi nods slowly.
Member # 7 — We have seen how strong our people are, how creative… we do not need to steal anything from the West… by just trading with them fairly we’ll gradually become better at competing with them. If we create better products, they will buy our better products… if we create better chips they will buy our better chips… if we create better batteries and solar panels, they will buy them too… and it will be them trying to imitate us. They now make better planes than we do but that can change. What I wish to emphasize is that we just need to compete… and do so fairly… and trust that we have the capacity to create things that not only America but the whole world will want. We have the capacity to continue to rise without getting paranoid that the West will try to obstruct us… or without us making them paranoid that we’re in to harm them. If we were to prove that we’re better, then they will…
