Page 93 - COVID-19: The Great Reset

different observers are entitled to their own opinions (this is called
a “superposition”: “particles can be in several places or states at

once”). [92] In the world of international affairs, if two different
observers are entitled to their own opinions, that makes them
subjective, but no less real and no less valid. If an observer can
only make sense of the “reality” through different idiosyncratic

lenses, this forces us to rethink our notion of objectivity. It is
evident that the representation of reality depends on the position
of the observer. In that sense, a “Chinese” view and a “US” view

can co-exist, together with multiple other views along that
continuum – all of them real! To a considerable extent and for
understandable reasons, the Chinese view of the world and its
place in it is influenced by the humiliation suffered during the first
Opium War in 1840 and the subsequent invasion in 1900 when

the Eight Nation Alliance looted Beijing and other Chinese cities
before demanding compensation. [93] Conversely, how the US
views the world and its place in it is largely based on the values

and principles that have shaped American public life since the
country’s founding. [94] These have determined both its pre-
eminent world position and its unique attractiveness for many
immigrants for 250 years. The US perspective is also rooted in the

unrivalled dominance it has enjoyed over the rest of the world for
the past few decades and the inevitable doubts and insecurities
that come with a relative loss of absolute supremacy. For
understandable reasons, both China and the US have a rich

history (China’s goes back 5,000 years) of which they are proud,
leading them, as Kishore Mahbubani observed, to overestimate
their own strengths and underestimate the strengths of the other.

Vindicating the point above, all analysts and forecasters who
specialize in China, the US, or both, have access to more or less

the same data and information (now a global commodity), see,
hear and read more or less the same things, but sometimes reach
diametrically opposed conclusions. Some see the US as the

ultimate winner, others argue that China has already won, and a
third group states that there’ll be no winners. Let’s briefly review
each of their arguments in turn.

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