Americans keep misdiagnosing China and America

Why does America keep getting this so wrong?

Hundreds of American military bases surround China, while China has one military base in eastern Africa

I just finished the book Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap? It’s the most balanced book by an American on the growth of China toward being the world’s largest economy and how America could deal with this that I’ve found yet. It appears to be strongly aligned with the Washington…