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I shared this on my WeChat moments, asking my Chinese contacts if this was the consensus view in China, if they thought the pro-engagement cohort of the American left are cynically manipulated for their naïveté.

Here were the responses (some translated from Chinese) 1/ https://twitter.com/gerryshih/status/1253130066034225152

A number of the responses were short. “不” (no) or “of course not.” Others were sad-face or crying emojis, or saying that this author only represents his own views.

One replied that “the article views the world with despicable lens, zero-sum mentality.” 2/

One responded that he didn’t find much disparaging in the words of the author towards the American left, implying that the words are out of context, and that China is a friend of you see it as a friend, enemy if you see it as an enemy. 3/

Yet a number of people found the article to be representative of broader China.

One said “one has to be incredibly ignorant and uninformed to trust messages (rhetoric of ‘cooperation’) coming from certain organizations (China state media and diplomats) nowadays.” 4/

Another replied “you are getting it ”
5/

Another:

“In my mind, this article is exactly in my expectation of what I suppose to receive (from WeChat official account) fit my Chinese shaped ideology tbh ... but .. that's why I have to find the same topic from different source, to compare.” 6/

From a Taiwanese contact:

“The Chinese regime will never change its ingrained structure, and it will never accept The United States.”

7/

Another commented that regardless of the left or right in the US, the Thucydides Trap between the US and China is unavoidable, and only history will prove which model is superior. 8/

One more eloquent person encouraged a broader perspective, that China still sent far more masks to the US than Russia, for example, and that both the US and China have a broad range of views, yet... 9/

The issue with China today is that the only view that really matters is that of one man (Xi), and who knows how long he will be in power. The lack of checks and balances with him can lead to more extremes. 10/

I agree broadly with that person. Yet it does seem that as far as I can see, the person currently in charge in The PRC seems to hold a similar view as that article’s author. And that is not good for US-China relations.

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