Biden’s China Challenge: Counter Its Perception of American Decline

U.S. relations with China are a minefield of potentially explosive problems, yet the biggest risk is a subtle one: the danger that China overestimates the decline of U.S. power and acts accordingly.

If China is as convinced as its representatives and media organizations proclaim, that the U.S. and the entire Western liberal order are in the early stages of a long-term decline, an emboldened Chinese leadership may overstep, become overly provocative and compel America to respond forcefully. The risk arises in many areas, including in the South China Sea, in...