Americans might be surprised to find that Chinese leaders view the United States as a dangerous, hostile nation determined to hold other countries down. In 2010, then–secretary of state Hillary Clinton scoffed at the idea that America was “bent on containing China,” pointing out that “China has experienced breathtaking growth and development” in the American world order.46 Yet even as China has, in many ways, flourished in the Pax Americana, its leaders have long worried that Washington threatens nearly everything the CCP desires.
