China is on the cutting-edge of information technology, providing consumer electronics and telecommunications equipment to much of the world. Its own digital infrastructure is due for a modest upgrade that will be rolled out by 2023.

To make sense of China’s summer spate of market-altering policy changes, one must examine Xi Jinping’s strategy, as well as historical precedents for state interventionism in the economy.

The historical promise from the CPC to the Chinese people has been kept. The concept of common prosperity also has significant developmental implications in rebalancing the world economy. It does not mean killing the rich to help the poor.

Over the last 20 years, a number of thriving technology companies have emerged in China. This has invited much speculation about the country’s scientific and technological prowess, and about its ability to innovate. Some argue that China is already nipping at America’s heels in these domains, and has become a world leader in some sectors. Others believe that China is not quite as far along as it may appear, and the government’s regulatory clampdown on tech companies will impede its continued progress. Which is it?

Why should the shared interest in middle class development in China and the United States be a key driving force in the bilateral relationship today?

China’s friction with the West has led to retaliatory economic jabs in going both directions, yet for all the posturing and saber-rattling, trade between China and its Western partners is not easily replaced.

China-U.S. relations are the main stress point in the present-day world, and the U.S. has yet to accept China’s bottom lines. While chilly political relations and warm economic ones are the new normal, it is still possible for the two to meet halfway.

There is a global shift towards a new economic philosophy, which both Washington and Beijing are grappling with. Open understanding of both economies could help the two countries establish the foundation for cooperation.

Recent price increases in the world’s two largest economies have unnerved global markets, which have become accustomed to the low inflation – and even deflation – that has prevailed for decades. But, at least in China, a little inflation would not be a bad thing.

Economic reporting about China focuses far too much on total GDP and not enough on per capita GDP, which is the more revealing indicator. And this skewed coverage has important implications, because the two indicators paint significantly different pictures of China’s current economic and political situation. They also focus our attention on different issues.