Are US hawks talking tough on China because of this book?
Three years ago, an analyst predicted Washington could use The Hundred-Year Marathon to push for a tougher China policy. Now the author, Michael Pillsbury, is a White House adviser
A book dismissed by China’s US ambassador during a television interview may have been used to justify Washington’s recent tough rhetoric on Beijing, a political analyst said.
The ambassador, Cui Tiankai, said during his interview with Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace that he “would not recommend” The Hundred-Year Marathon by Michael Pillsbury, a White House adviser who has written several books on China.
Subtitled China’s secret strategy to replace America as the global superpower, the book claims that Beijing has a century-long plan built on a series of strategic deceptions to use the US to help it develop before it ultimately takes over as the world’s leading superpower.
Political analyst Wu Xinbo, director of the American Studies Centre at Fudan University in Shanghai, predicted in a 2015 review of the book that it could be used by hawks in the US to advocate for a tougher China policy.
Three years later, as the US steers its China policy, hawkish Washington officials have cited Pillsbury’s views as “evidence” to support their arguments.