'China has to be punished': American economist says US fears Beijing’s alternative model

Economist Jeffrey Sachs argues the real reason the U.S. is targeting China isn’t ideology—it’s fear. Fear that Beijing’s success proves the world no longer needs to follow the American playbook.

“China was supposed to develop in a way that is subservient to the United States,” Sachs said at a recent discussion. “They didn’t… now they have to be punished.”

According to Sachs, Washington’s hostility toward Beijing stems from China’s refusal to become a U.S.-aligned economic colony after the Cold War. Instead, China built a high-performing alternative system—one that doesn’t follow the rules of American capitalism. And that, Sachs says, threatens the core of U.S. global dominance.

“It’s not about communism,” Sachs asserts. “It’s about success with a different model.”

The Columbia professor, long critical of U.S. foreign policy, warns that the U.S. is increasingly resorting to a Cold War-era “containment” strategy. This includes military buildup in Asia, tech export bans, trade pacts designed to exclude China, and pressure on allies to isolate Beijing.

Sachs believes these efforts reflect a deeper insecurity: U.S. policymakers see unchallenged dominance as a right, not a privilege. “The U.S. mindset is not conducive to cooperation,” he adds. “It’s about maintaining preeminence, not peaceful coexistence.”

China, by contrast, seeks to coexist as a great power, Sachs says—not to replace the U.S., but to prove that a multipolar world is possible.

But Washington, he warns, is on a path that could make conflict inevitable. “This sabre-rattling could become a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Sachs cautions, as economic rivalry turns into open hostility.

The core issue? China’s rise undermines the narrative that U.S.-style capitalism is the only way forward. Sachs argues that what terrifies Washington most is not that China is different—but that it’s working.