Mershon Senior Faculty Fellow John Mueller recently penned for The National Interest a piece examining the current relationship between the United States and China. In "The United States Does Not Need to Contain China," Mueller opens by quoting Napoleon as he says, "Never interrupt your enemy when he's making a mistake."

Mueller draws on historical examples and current approaches, such as China's Belt and Road Initiative, as part of China's approach to increasing status and influence. He states that China's Xi Jinping seems to have been adept at working his way into unchallenged one-man rule in China and at embedding himself at the center of a congenial and compliant echo chamber. However, he seems otherwise to be doing just about everything wrong. Under the circumstances, then, policies of containment are scarcely required.