It is not heavy hyperbole. Compare the relative positions of the west vs China only 25 years ago vs today. Before, China had neither military technology to th

It is not heavy hyperbole. Compare the relative positions of the west vs China only 25 years ago vs today. Before, China had neither military technology to that could challenge the West, nor the size of its economy. Today, it has ripped-off designs of fighter jets for everything from the F-16 to the F-35, carrier-killer missiles, six nuclear attack submarines, a domestically produced aircraft carrier, etc.++, and is the 2nd largest economy in the world. All in a quarter of a century. We gave away the forking store. And CCP has used that new position to violate it's agreements on Hong Kong, and now continuously and explicitly threaten war on Taiwan. The great experiment has been tried and resoundingly failed. It was thought that open trade and information exchange would result in openness and democracies in the autocratic countries. Instead, it empowered and emboldened the dictators. That said, we have noticed, and China has blown it so that they no longer have the benefit of the doubt; we know the experiment failed, and know their absolute intentions to remain autocratic, and grow at the expense of democracies. So we are now strategically pulling back. I do not think it is anywhere near over. I would not bet on China winning long-term. But, the west, by trying the Great Experiment (which was truly generous-minded), without restraint (which was stupid) has put ourselves in a far more vulnerable position than we would have otherwise. It will be far more costly and risky to get the democracies of the world out of this mess than it would be if we'd avoided it in the first place It was unnecessary and strategically foolish.