Geopolitics is a little more complicated than phrases we tell children. At the core of it, the kind of protectionism China has engaged in is defecting in a pri

Geopolitics is a little more complicated than phrases we tell children. At the core of it, the kind of protectionism China has engaged in is defecting in a prisoner's dilemma. If you play always cooperate against a defectbot, you're going to lose eventually, even if you start very far ahead.