Eamonn Fingleton
Forbes - July 9, 2014
It is hard to exaggerate the audacity with which China now kicks sand in Uncle Sam’s face. On everything from trade barriers to industrial espionage to intellectual property theft, Washington is regarded in Beijing as an empty suit. Washington never finds the courage to confront Beijing. And the result is that American economic power has been ebbing away at a rate unprecedented in Great Power history. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is currently in Beijing for an annual Sino-American summit, is unlikely to reverse the trend. Quite the contrary, he gives every impression that he has brought to Sino-U.S. relations the standard Beltway mindset. It is a mindset of fudge, compromise, and peacock-like strutting. It is a mindset that the Chinese have come to know and love. The betting is he will return from China with a panoply of Chinese assurances that both sides know are no more than empty posturing.
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