Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, Axios’ primary China reporter, lamented that the Chinese Communist Party would not overtake the U.S. as a “better superpower” on Twitter.
The four-tweet threat rebuked the notion that “the Chinese government could perhaps become as good and wise as the people it governs.” A rejection of the establishment’s mindset to approaching the communist country, Allen-Ebrahimian adds, “I believe we are far, far past the point where anyone can hope that China will bring a better, fairer, and more just international system.”
Allen-Ebrahimian, who describes herself as “the China reporter at Axios,” reveals, however, that she hoped China would be a “better superpower than the U.S.”:
I want there to be a better superpower than the US has been. I want there to be a country that doesn’t act like the US too often has. But just because I want that, doesn’t mean I can fool myself into believing that China will be that better, kinder superpower.
I want there to be a better superpower than the US has been. I want there to be a country that doesn’t act like the US too often has. But just because I want that, doesn’t mean I can fool myself into believing that China will be that better, kinder superpower.
— B. Allen-Ebrahimian (@BethanyAllenEbr) December 12, 2020
She conflates the American government with the Chinese government, noting both aren’t “evil incarnate” before insisting again that she hoped China would be “better, fairer, [and] less violent” than the U.S.
And this isn’t to say China will only bring bad. The US had done a lot of good too, despite the ill we have wrought. Nothing is so simple. But I am still seeing this hope-against-hope that Beijing might be somehow better, fairer, less violent. We are past that point, friends.
— B. Allen-Ebrahimian (@BethanyAllenEbr) December 12, 2020
The revelation comes just days after Axios published a story revealing a Chinese Communist Party-led intelligence campaign targeting U.S. lawmakers such as Eric Swalwell.