China Is a Declining Power–and That’s the Problem

Bit of a trolling headline, imo, by a couple of AEI guys.

Interestingly, the one author's dad is a historian, presumably one not so tied ideologically to an org like AEI -- wonder if they talk shop.

The authors' contention seems to be that, while China is a rising power compared to the rest of the countries in the world not named USA, it is now being confronted more directly by the US -- also a declining power -- but one that is still vastly more powerful than any other country on earth.

So now that the US has fully committed to its War on China, China's prospects for global influence/domination are much more circumscribed than they were even a few years ago, so therefore they are a declining power, and the US will continue to put the squeeze on, so that the US remains the undisputed dominant imperial power in the world.

It's a specious or disingenuous argument, imo.

It's a bit like saying, well, I made one million dollars yesterday, which is more than 99.99% of the world made yesterday, but Bezos made three hundred million dollars yesterday, so really, in actuality, I have less spending power today than i did yesterday.

Regardless, I'd prefer the US worked less hard at imperialism and more hard at respecting human rights, defusing nuclear war (with China and others), and maybe even trying to slow instead of speed the end of humanity as we know it through complete ecological collapse.

Article seems to take it as a given that China is declining?

I would have thought the US is more at risk of that

Power in a war comes down to two main factors: Manufacturing capacity and the size of the military-age population.

In both cases, China alone outclasses the combined West. (5-eyes, Europe, Japan)