THE lONG wAR HAS ALWAYS JUST BEEN THE ANGLOSPHERE VS THE FRENCH REACTION:

In a Politburo group study session on 23 November 2015, China's president, Xi Jinping, recommended the book Capital in the Twenty-First Century by the French economist Thomas Piketty. "The rich data he used demonstrated that ... unrestrained capitalism accelerates wealth inequality ... [His] conclusion is worth us pondering on." [...]

With money have come power at home and influence abroad, both of which pose a threat to the Communist party, analysts say. China's technologies increasingly shape the western world, from Alibaba in global trade, linking western buyers with exporters of goods made in China, to TikTok in popular culture, to online gaming, where Tencent has an interest in some of the most successful European developers.

"The recent regulatory crackdowns also send a chilling message to enterprising Chinese business people, whose contributions to the economy are far bigger than many state-owned firms," said Dexter Roberts, senior fellow at Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

"Chinese economists have long wondered whether the tech sector would be Xi's next move in addressing the issue of wealth distribution," said Roberts, who is also the author of The Myth of Chinese Capitalism. "In this sense, it's unsurprising that this is now happening. After all, these tech firms are the symbol of excessive wealth in China."

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