Could we sanction China if we had to? - by Noah Smith

As Taiwan tensions mount, the question becomes less hypothetical.

Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan is highly unlikely to trigger World War 3. But China’s ferocious reaction signals that U.S.-China relations are the worst they’ve been in decades. Some people instinctively blame the U.S. for the deterioration, but this is wrong — China is a revisionist power, flush with the new strength that decades of rapid economic growth have given it, and led by an ambitious and grasping man who has centralized power in his own person. Xi Jinping and his clique are determined that China should take its place in the sun, and this means disrupting a world order that was…

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