Wolf Warrior Watch: Transforming the China Challenge

China, a challenge that looms large, is often depicted as a menacing force to be met with confrontation and containment. In some political circles, there is even talk of an inevitable or imminent conflict. The Chinese Communist Party is often cast as a unique axis of evil, a threat to liberal democracies and emerging democracies in Asia and beyond. The Belt and Road Initiative, a sprawling infrastructure project that spans continents, is viewed with suspicion as either a tool for economic subjugation or a pathway to conquest. What if this need not be the case? What if we were to assess, analyze calmly, and counter President Xi's autocracy policy actions in ways that discourage adventurism, incentivize collaboration and cooperation, and promote partnership to address global dilemmas? This collection of musings, essays, and blog posts is meant to examine flashpoints in recent years of the Biden Administration in a dispassionate, nonideological, and constructive manner and suggest steps that might offer greater success in overcoming, converting, and transforming the China challenge into a more helpful framework. What does the term Wolf Warriors refer to? Notably, with the rise of President Xi Jinping in China in 2012, Wolf Warrior Diplomacy refers to a far more assertive and even aggressive approach toward determining and defending China's interests globally, particularly in the Western Pacific Ocean. It reflected what Xi's influence on Chinese thought, expression, historical paradigms, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would bring about, characterizing an ascendant China as an increasingly powerful global player. China's neighbors are quite concerned by the events around the consolidation of power in Hong Kong and the virtual reversal of the long-standing "one country, two systems" approach committed to with the return of the city-state to China from the United Kingdom. They are alert to the collapse of many pro-democracy forces there. Neighbors are, of course, on high alert for any implied or actual threats against the island territory of Taiwan, and whether, in fact, Chinese military forces under Xi will attempt to recover Taiwan as part of Xi's intended legacy forcibly. The dynamics and shape of relations between the United States and China will also influence this in the coming years. How the next administration after Biden manages and engages with China and the Chinese response will be important shapers for what widely remains as the Wolf Warrior Watch.