After 40 years of intense interaction, the United States and China are pulling away from each other. The US believes China plans to eclipse it as the premier global power and builder of order. China’s leaders think America wants to end their rule. Determined to avoid war, but unwilling to compromise, each side is trying to reach its goals in spite of its rival. The Chinese expression—山不容二虎—suggests that one of them must fail. Tigers dominate their worlds by their very natures; two is one too many.
Beijing and Washington both face a contradiction between political and economic logic.