@MMinevich
Xi Jinping with population collapsing for a 4th straight year, fertility at 1.0, property sector in its 5th year of bust, youth unemployment near 20%, FDI fleeing, “run” culture emptying out his best educated used a state visit to call AMERICA the declining power. Invoked “Thucydides Trap” to the President’s face. The academic euphemism for: accept your decline, or this ends in war. Then dictated terms on Taiwan. Called independence and peace “fire and water.” Drew his red line on his soil, at our expense. Let’s be clear: The Chinese Communist Party does not write American foreign policy. Not on Taiwan. Not on the Pacific. Not on semiconductors. Not on alliances. Not on anything. A leader whose own house is on fire does not get to lecture the United States on decline. We compete hard. We defend allies. We keep the capital, the compute, and the capability on our side of the line.