What Engagement With China Has Meant for Me

Over the past decade, the relationship between the U.S. and China has gone from a symbiotic embrace—“Chimerica,” as some academics called it—to an ominous mutual rejection. There is now a bipartisan consensus in Washington that the longstanding strategy of deepening economic ties with Beijing has failed. China’s leadership, in turn, increasingly sees the U.S. as an existential threat. In both countries, anyone arguing in favor of a softer line is seen as politically naive or worse.