Thanks to Trump, US threat of a ‘peaceful evolution' recedes for China
As someone born in the 1960s in China, one of the earliest lessons our generation learned in school was to be vigilant about the perceived dangers of American conspiracies and attempts aimed at subverting and overthrowing the Communist Party through peaceful means.
Through classroom teachings, propaganda films and slogans plastered prominently along the streets, we were repeatedly exposed to Chairman Mao Zedong's warnings about the
threat of 'peaceful evolution' , encapsulated in his assertion that American imperialists would never give up their desire to subjugate China.
Mao began sounding the alarm about a peaceful evolution as early as 1959, responding to US policies advocated by John Foster Dulles, then the secretary of state, which marked the initial stages of the ideological Cold War. This strategy aimed to undermine socialist countries like the Soviet Union and China by promoting Western values and inciting dissent against the Communist Party's rule.
Mao famously remarked that while there was little hope for the United States to incite change among the Chinese people within two generations, the outcome after three generations was uncertain.
Interestingly, three generations later, China has emerged as one of the world's largest economies and a rising power increasingly viewed as a challenger to America's superpower status. Meanwhile, the US has shifted away from nation-building efforts and vowed to stop offering lectures on how others should live or govern.
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