[U]nhappily, we must take responsibility for our own failures. The Chinese have developed a nation of producers; we are a nation of consumers. China is a nation of engineers, the United States a nation of lawyers. The Chinese willingly sacrifice today for tomorrow; we sacrifice tomorrow for today.
There are disturbing signs that the Chinese have deliberately engaged in the economic conquest of America. I cannot prove this, it cannot be documented. I can only cite scraps of evidence- a whispered word here, a secret CIA account there, knowing looks on the faces of Chinese leaders who I have questioned.
Every economic move China has made […] has been carefully controlled, directed and orchestrated by the government. How should we respond? It seems to me that we must mobilize our economic forces again. We must restructure our industrial and technological apparatus.
The passage above was written almost 40 years ago. Naturally, it was not originally about China. It comes from Jack Anderson’s 1988 warning about Japan’s rise, with only the proper nouns changed.
It’s almost eerie how easily 1980s Japan panic language tracks contemporary China discourse. Market competition is portrayed as concealing state-directed conquest. The rising Asian industrial power is described as technically brilliant, strategically patient, and nationally disciplined. Its competence is felt as American decline.
