Powerful, Different, Equal: Overcoming the Misconceptions and Differences Between China and the US

  • 2h 25m
  • Peter B. Walker
  • LID Publishing Ltd
  • 2020

From Trump’s aggressive rhetoric against China to the escalating trade war with tit for tat responses, and China’s 2025 initiative that threatens the US global leadership in advanced technologies, tensions between the US and China (the two dominant forces of today’s world) have never been higher.

This book provides a timely analysis of the US-China relationship. Each model is deeply rooted in their respective histories and cultures, with both models highly successful in achieving their main goals and highly resilient over time. It explores the core misconceptions on governance, economic, social and military issues, and the root causes of these misconceptions. If China and the US could close the gap by each understanding those differences and their implications, the author argues, they could work together to overcome global issues to the benefit of all.

About the Author

Peter B. Walker is a Senior Partner Emeritus at McKinsey & Company, the world’s leading management consultancy firm. During his 46 years at the firm, he worked with a wide range of financial institutions around the world, with a focus on China.

In this Book

  • Context: Elements of the Governance Models and Mindsets Grounded in History and Culture will not Change
  • Culture: A Core Source of Differences
  • Economic Performance: The True Battlefield
  • Education Systems: Increasingly Important, Given the Growing Role of Advanced Technologies
  • Human Rights and the Rule of Law: US Absolutist Ideology vs. China's Relativist Approach
  • Forms of Democracy: US Electoral Compared to China's Responsive to the People
  • Worldview and the Military: US Focus on Spreading Democracy and Human Rights; The Chinese Focus on Economic Interests, Not Spreading a Model
  • Where We go from Here . . .