What Does China Want? It’s Too Soon to Tell
Whether playing from a position of strength or weakness, Beijing’s timing is excellent.
Raising the stakes.
Photographer: Kyodo News/Getty
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China’s leaders are famous for taking the long-term view. This can be overstated. When Mao’s deputy Zhou Enlai famously said in 1972 that it was “too soon to tell” about the effects of the French Revolution, it turns out that he was answering a question about the student protests that had happened four years before, not the far greater insurrection of 1789. So points out former colleague Richard McGregor.