How Xi’s Most Powerful “Ideas Man” Got America Wrong? | Zooming In China

Wang Huning is one of the top seven leaders of the Chinese Communist Party. He is also the “Ideas Man” behind the policies of the last three CCP’s general secretaries including Xi Jinping.

Recently, I read Wang Huning’s popular memoir America Against America, written after a 6 month stay in the United States. I have to say his knowledge of Western political philosophy, American history, and American politics went well beyond my expectations, leaving me with the impression that he is a diligent, rigorous and qualified scholar. Despite that theoretical rigor used in his memoir, however, I don’t think he understands the essence of the American order. Does that matter? Yes it does. Wang is now charged with charting a way forward for the world’s second most powerful nation. In that role, he has chosen to view the U.S. as a negative lesson, an example of what not to do when defining China’s path. He is also choosing to define and build China’s strengths in opposition to America’s perceived weaknesses. Will he succeed?