Eyck Freymann

So I think the overall point that it's nice to have, not need to have, is right.

And I end the book with a vignette of the last time I was in Beijing in 2023, where I went to the National Museum in Tiananmen Square.

And I went to this exhibit in the museum called Road to Rejuvenation, which tracks the century of humiliation and then the party's rise in rule.

And Xi Jinping is obsessed with this exhibit.

One of the first things he did after taking power in 2012 was he took the whole Politburo Standing Committee there and he said, this exhibit records our history and our present and we're going to write the next chapter together.

And then he added in 2018 this glitzy new annex to celebrate his achievements in the so-called new era.

And it's kind of interesting because the museum is packed with tourists from all over China.

And the museum is, this exhibit is not.

It's empty.

Completely empty.

I was there alone for two hours.

And you can see the scope of his ambition.

Military stuff is clearly part of it.

But there's also a whole wall devoted to ethnic minorities where he's smiling serenely as the harmonized ethnic minorities sing and dance.

And there's another about how China is going green with green mountains and electric vehicles.

And there's another of him cheering athletes at the Olympics.

And you see that national rejuvenation is about putting China at the forefront of literally every human endeavor.

Literally every human endeavor.

It's about getting rich, technologically advanced, green, harmonious, culturally advanced.

And so Taiwan is the linchpin of that arch.