Canadian. Background in politics, policy, and operations. Most recently worked for a Senator. Educational background in global development, international affairs, and politics. Big fan of novels, music, afternoon walks in the fall, and long chats with people who've got something interesting to say. Reach out, I love a good chat! [Bonjour - je parle aussi français si cela est plus facile pour vous! Hola - También hablo español, a un nivel intermedio, si eso es más fácil para ti!]
Thanks for writing this, this is a super valuable question to be asking. I've been wondering about this myself recently.
Can I ask what your level of confidence is for these conclusions, or your knowledge of China generally, given that you stated you are more familiar with the U.S.? My level of information about China is not super high either (I do have a degree in Global and International Studies, but spent relatively little time focused on China), but I did find myself questioning some arguments / wondering what info they are based on. This is a valuable exercise even if you don't have high confidence in your China knowledge, but it would be helpful to have a sense of what that level is.
If it helps for context, here's some examples of what stuck out to me:
I hope that this doesn't come across as super critical! (Tone online can be hard to get right). I think this was a really good post and found it very valuable, I just feel it would be good to know up front how highly you would rate your knowledge/confidence that led to these conclusions.