China is not our peer

For diplomatic reasons, it’s become customary for American presidents to shower communist dictators with opulent praise. Even within that off-putting tradition, President Donald Trump’s recent obsequiousness towards Xi Jinping is unprecedented.We should never forget that of all the planned utopian economies of history, none was more deadly or dehumanizing. No government has murdered, tortured, imprisoned and terrorized more of its own people than communist China. And no contemporary government in the world has done more to undermine the United States.In a recent three-day China-U.S. summit in Washington, Trump claimed that ties between the two nations have never been stronger. This is simply untrue. China targets Americans interests on virtually every front, from its massive intellectual property theft operations to its cyber espionage and warfare to its propping up of the Iranian terror regime. None of that is to even mention that the Chinese communists are the likely source of a devastating worldwide pandemic not that long ago.Yet, more than any of that, treating the haughty Xi as a peer continues to feed the widespread notion that China is not only nipping at our heels but that it’s only a matter of time before its economy overtakes the United States. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people make this claim. It is a myth.Perhaps Americans are under the impression that every country is destined to keep growing and prospering in a linear fashion just like the U.S.. We, however, are an anomaly. And we are an anomaly because of our people and system.Past generations have heard similar warnings about the economic rise of Japan and the European Union. Yet in the decades since our expected demise, the U.S. has retained its dominance over the world. In 1990, we accounted for roughly 26% of the global economy. In 2026, we account for roughly 26% of the global economy. At the same time both Japan and Europe have lost shares.These days, Americans see images of the shimmering skyscrapers and cityscapes of Shanghai and Shenzhen and get the impression that China is a technological and infrastructural marvel. And with a partial abandonment of socialism and enhanced trade with the West, China has brought millions out of extreme poverty over the past 35 years. Yet, the average Chinese citizen still lives in what most of us would consider abject destitution.At least 90% of Chinese live below the U.S. poverty line. That’s if we believe communist state economic data, which we probably shouldn’t.The median U.S. household income was $87,000 in 2025. In China, it’s maybe around $6,000. And when a Chinese apologist starts lecturing you about purchasing power, remind them that the average family in China lives in a home that is around 646 square feet in a densely populated, pollution-gripped, gridlock-ridden city. Mind you, most Chinese don’t even have cars yet.Economic disparity in the U.S. is a big topic among class warriors, even though the average American’s comforts are as close in proximity to that of the wealthy as in any place or time in history. No one can say the same about the Hong Kong elite and the rural Chinese, who live in villages that wouldn’t look out of place in the medieval world.Household consumption accounts for around 40% of the Chinese economy, considerably below the global average of 64%. In the U.S., household consumption accounts for roughly 70%. We are rich. They are poor.Still, communist China has many fans in the United States. China’s economy is built on the kind of top-down control that many American progressives and economic populists tend to favor. Democratic socialists often sing its praises, but so do alleged “liberals.”New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has been a longtime admirer of China because it “invests” in solar panels and wind generation. Paul Krugman contends that the “U.S. is in danger of being permanently overtaken by China’s technological and economic prowess” because of its green policies, as well.This is all a delusion. Not only because no one pollutes the earth more than the Chinese, but because the policies of climate change obsessed elites have done little to make life better for common people. President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping walk along the Colonnade of the White House, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) While the Chinese state redirects massive economic resources into the green energy and tech manufacturing sectors to compete with the U.S., it hemorrhages money on those projects, fails to create useful self-sustaining jobs for its people and pumps out products that the Chinese can’t buy. An over-reliance on state-subsidized manufacturing and exports still prop up the economy.China is also investing heavily in infrastructure, roads, bridges, airports, and high-speed rail lines all over the country that look great in aerial shots but are often barely used by anyone. This is the inevitable outcome in a planned economy.This year, the Chinese government expects its GDP to grow at less than 5%, its weakest showing since 1991. And that’s if they accept estimates from state officials. Many economists believe evidence points to China’s real GDP growth rate being zero or worse. We don’t know because the Chinese communist media isn’t allowed to complain or investigate. In a totalitarian state, one that relies heavily on propaganda, officials are incentivized to inflate accomplishments and hide failures from their superiors.Our military superiority shouldn’t be overlooked, either. Recent conflicts in Venezuela and Iran have proven that Chinese-made air defense and missile systems are no match for advanced America’s stealth warfare capabilities.None of this is to say that a free China couldn’t become an economic rival in the future. The Chinese people have immense potential. Just look at Singapore and Taiwan today, or Hong Kong, in the past. Chinese-majority nations are powerhouses in finance and manufacturing.And none of this is to say things couldn’t change in a hurry for us. Luddites and economic statists in the U.S., who want us to act more like the Chinese communists, are gaining ground in American politics.TRUMP AND XI SIZE EACH OTHER UPWe are, for example, in a race with China to see who will dominate AI. It will either be us or them. But the only way China can win the AI race, or any race against us, for that matter, is if we let them. Because the notion that China is our peer is wishful or misguided thinking.Well, as long as we have a free and open economy.