Is China following a bankrupt ideology, as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed in a speech at the Nixon Library ? Is the United States the beacon of light it claims to be? Results speak louder than empty talk. If China is held captive by a bankrupt ideology, how do you explain its spectacular economic achievements? If the US represents the pinnacle of virtue, how do you explain its many social problems, laid bare by Covid-19? Leaving aside Pompeo’s personal agenda, his simplistic declaration is not based on reality. China has propelled its per capita GDP from US$156 in 1978 to more than US$10,000 last year. On a purchasing power parity basis, residents of Beijing and Shanghai enjoy per capita GDP similar to some European Union member states. If China is so totalitarian, why do so many Chinese students studying abroad happily return from the “free world” to China every year after obtaining their foreign degrees? Why did Chinese students rush back from the US in the middle of the pandemic? Western TV programmes accessible in East Germany might have contributed to German reunification. Western media is banned in North Korea, but not for the ruling Kim family and perhaps its inner circle. However, Western movies and television series – as well as those from South Korea and Hong Kong – are widely available in China. In fact, the latest hit domestic TV series in China, Nothing but Thirty , featuring three women in Shanghai around 30 years old, has posher settings than South Korean dramas. The Communist Party of today is quite different from the party of 1977. China learned from its earlier failed experiments that it could not leapfrog into communism. By its own admission, China is at an early stage of socialism, and its economic model is still evolving. Pompeo begins central Europe tour amid Chinese, Russian influence in region China shed its ideological straitjacket decades ago. Deng Xiaoping famously said a cat should be judged by its performance rather than its colour. China’s economic system is eclectic, not limited by ideology. The Communist Party retains its vitality through dynamic evolution. Deng started economic reforms with special economic zones. Starting with Beijing’s Zhongguancun in 1988, China has about 170 national hi-tech industrial zones, joined by many others at the provincial and local levels. China has also expanded its list of free trade zones, from the first in Shanghai in 2013 to 18 last year . It is unclear if Hainan Island, recently designated a Free Trade Port, can become the next Singapore, but China’s continued liberalisation will surely lead to more breakthroughs. Not all such regional development initiatives resulted in unmitigated success. Among the four original zones designated by Deng, only Shenzhen has distinguished itself as a world-class powerhouse. The fates of the rest are more mixed. After decades, China is still struggling with its Revitalising Northeast and Go West campaigns . Trump’s claim trade deal means ‘very little’ ratchets up pressure on China China owes its success to experimentation. Local cadres are allowed, even encouraged, to experiment and are rewarded for their achievements. In localised experiments, negative consequences may be limited while positive results can be maximised. China prunes its failures and propagates its successes nationwide. US engagement with China did not start with Richard Nixon but with Imperial China. The Open Door Policy for China was first advocated by US secretary of state John Hay in 1899. Hay, under subsequent president Teddy Roosevelt, also negotiated a reduction of the Boxer Indemnity payable to the United States. Some of the proceeds were used to set up a preparatory school – whose graduates would proceed to study in the US under scholarships – which later became Tsinghua University. The Boxer Indemnity Scholarship made a highly consequential impact on China. The US made great contributions to the development of modern China even before the Communist Party was established. Pompeo, the 70th secretary of state, cannot undo the good works of his predecessors. Where have market fundamentalism and financialisation left most Americans? For the average American, real wages have stagnated for decades. Uniquely expensive and inefficient among developed nations, US health care is a problem for many of its citizens. With the lapse of US$600 federal jobless aid payments, many Americans face destitution. In the absence of a compromise on another stimulus package, Trump’s executive orders face uncertain legality and implementation. The US cannot win any new Cold War by demonising an ascendant China. Bogged down by partisan politics, it has not been able to address many of its chronic socioeconomic problems. It can only win by putting its own house in order and setting a good example. The US has more than 5 million Covid-19 cases and over 160,000 deaths and has seen mass protests across the country as part of the Black Lives Matter movement. The rule of law in the US is compromised. Even the orderly transition of power after the November election is not assured. It is the US’ empty rhetoric that is truly bankrupt. Winston Mok, a private investor, was previously a private equity investor