Especially the part about America's better science policy.
China is going to decarbonize the world, not the US.
Also, the pre Mao China wasn't as much of a basket case as the popular imagination suggests.
In the PRC, it was important to cast the ROC as irretrievably oppressive, foreign dominated, and illegitimate in order to justify the CCPs overthrow.
In the West, the narrative of "who lost China?" opened a market for scholarly work that emphasized how much the ROC was beyond saving, thus there was no point in questioning whether the US (or anyone else) could have done more.
Now, three things have changed. First, the modern PRC wants to reclaim the WW2 legacy of the ROC, which means rehabilitatiing the KMT which did 90% of the anti Japan fighting. Second, the legacy of McCarthyism is in the rear view mirror so questions about "How could US China cooperation during the war have been better?" can be asked without it devolving into accusations of "Roosevelt was Stalin's Stooge!" Finally, Chiang Kai Sheks diaries became available in ~2012, so we actually know what he was thinking about during that time.
Richard Frank, Rana Mitter, Sarah Paine, and Hans Van de ven have all written recent books that use the new information.
I suspect the stereotype of "pre-communist China was a basket case" was based less on the ROC and more on the Ming and Qing imperial dynasties, which inherited from their Yuan predecessor a system of government that was brutal but had remarkably poor state capacity: the Qing didn't even have standardized coinage (perhaps due to their lack of interest in international trade: they left a lot of their monetary policy to individual provinces) which was one of the factors which led to the Opium Wars.
There is a long-running dichotomy in Chinese civilization between the despotic, steppe nomad influenced culture of Beijing, versus the entrepreneurial and outward-looking culture of the south. The Guomindang who ruled the ROC were of southern origin, as were the medieval Song dynasty which may conceivably have given the world an industrial revolution centuries before it actually happened, had it not been for their conquest by the Mongols.
(You could also liken this split to that in East Slavic civilization between despotic Moscow and westward-looking Kyiv.)
It's easy to see the temptation of making the "China 5000 years of history blah blah" claim. Pundits like Dalio and clowns like Sachs can invoke this cliches and take advantage of general public (including most of the economic elites) in the West who still see China through a mystery lens. I don't think any debate or argument can correct this, not until the long term reality of autocratic system kicks in.
Does this mean that China, the US, and Russia (the great powers current run by authoritarians, or authoritarian wanna-bees) are all doing self-sabotage at the same time?
I always thought this tendency was THE major problem with the authoritarian system?
This Substack simply outlines policy deficiencies in most Western countries. We all need better infrastructure, cleaner air and water, an education system that prepares the next generation for the environment in which they will live. Then we have Nigel Farage, et al who want to tell us that Britain is broken and they want the opportunity to fix it. No, they are not going to reveal their plans, which don’t exist, but the admiration of Farage for Trump tells us he wants an American healthcare system, with private enterprise running everything and no one allowed to complain. It is time we made up our minds that we have to pay for what we want, and make the sacrifices necessary to achieve our goals. That it cost £400 million to prepare for the Lower Thames Crossing, before a spade entered the ground, has got to cease. The Tories seeking to gain the credit for building HS2 yet leaving its London terminal miles from Euston is part of this myopia that stymies our development. However the Elizabeth Line is a joy and worth every penny spent on it. We need to repeat this experience in the Midlands and North of the country.
You may be interested in Alon Levy's recent blog post looking at why infrastructure in the UK (along with other UK-influenced countries like Canada and Australia) is so expensive.
The west has great water. The flint crisis was rixed fairly quickly and was mostly Reddit bullshit if that’s why you think the west has bad water. If anything we spend too much gdp on water quality.
This hurts to read in 2026.
Especially the part about America's better science policy.
China is going to decarbonize the world, not the US.
Also, the pre Mao China wasn't as much of a basket case as the popular imagination suggests.
In the PRC, it was important to cast the ROC as irretrievably oppressive, foreign dominated, and illegitimate in order to justify the CCPs overthrow.
In the West, the narrative of "who lost China?" opened a market for scholarly work that emphasized how much the ROC was beyond saving, thus there was no point in questioning whether the US (or anyone else) could have done more.
Now, three things have changed. First, the modern PRC wants to reclaim the WW2 legacy of the ROC, which means rehabilitatiing the KMT which did 90% of the anti Japan fighting. Second, the legacy of McCarthyism is in the rear view mirror so questions about "How could US China cooperation during the war have been better?" can be asked without it devolving into accusations of "Roosevelt was Stalin's Stooge!" Finally, Chiang Kai Sheks diaries became available in ~2012, so we actually know what he was thinking about during that time.
Richard Frank, Rana Mitter, Sarah Paine, and Hans Van de ven have all written recent books that use the new information.
I suspect the stereotype of "pre-communist China was a basket case" was based less on the ROC and more on the Ming and Qing imperial dynasties, which inherited from their Yuan predecessor a system of government that was brutal but had remarkably poor state capacity: the Qing didn't even have standardized coinage (perhaps due to their lack of interest in international trade: they left a lot of their monetary policy to individual provinces) which was one of the factors which led to the Opium Wars.
There is a long-running dichotomy in Chinese civilization between the despotic, steppe nomad influenced culture of Beijing, versus the entrepreneurial and outward-looking culture of the south. The Guomindang who ruled the ROC were of southern origin, as were the medieval Song dynasty which may conceivably have given the world an industrial revolution centuries before it actually happened, had it not been for their conquest by the Mongols.
(You could also liken this split to that in East Slavic civilization between despotic Moscow and westward-looking Kyiv.)
It's easy to see the temptation of making the "China 5000 years of history blah blah" claim. Pundits like Dalio and clowns like Sachs can invoke this cliches and take advantage of general public (including most of the economic elites) in the West who still see China through a mystery lens. I don't think any debate or argument can correct this, not until the long term reality of autocratic system kicks in.
Does this mean that China, the US, and Russia (the great powers current run by authoritarians, or authoritarian wanna-bees) are all doing self-sabotage at the same time?
I always thought this tendency was THE major problem with the authoritarian system?
I hope this is right, as America seems intent on self-sabotage right now.
This Substack simply outlines policy deficiencies in most Western countries. We all need better infrastructure, cleaner air and water, an education system that prepares the next generation for the environment in which they will live. Then we have Nigel Farage, et al who want to tell us that Britain is broken and they want the opportunity to fix it. No, they are not going to reveal their plans, which don’t exist, but the admiration of Farage for Trump tells us he wants an American healthcare system, with private enterprise running everything and no one allowed to complain. It is time we made up our minds that we have to pay for what we want, and make the sacrifices necessary to achieve our goals. That it cost £400 million to prepare for the Lower Thames Crossing, before a spade entered the ground, has got to cease. The Tories seeking to gain the credit for building HS2 yet leaving its London terminal miles from Euston is part of this myopia that stymies our development. However the Elizabeth Line is a joy and worth every penny spent on it. We need to repeat this experience in the Midlands and North of the country.
You may be interested in Alon Levy's recent blog post looking at why infrastructure in the UK (along with other UK-influenced countries like Canada and Australia) is so expensive.
https://pedestrianobservations.com/2026/01/13/british-construction-costs-and-centralization/
The west has great water. The flint crisis was rixed fairly quickly and was mostly Reddit bullshit if that’s why you think the west has bad water. If anything we spend too much gdp on water quality.