Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: Plain English with Derek Thompson
Episode: Is This the Chinese Century?
Description: In the last few weeks, for the first time in my life, I’ve seriously thought about the 21st century not being another American century.
A recent essay in the journal Foreign Affairs by Rush Doshi and Kurt Campbell put things as starkly as I’ve ever seen. Some people are still stuck in a mode of thinking about China as being a place that just makes things of little value and significance. But Made in China means something different now. Technologically, China dominates everything from electric vehicles to fourth-generation nuclear reactors. Militarily, it features the world’s larges...