China 2008 vs 2022: Richer, stronger, more confrontational

BEIJING (AP) — Richer, more heavily armed and openly confrontational, China has undergone history-making changes since the last time it hosted the Olympics, in 2008.

Then, as fireworks exploded over Beijing, China was about to pass Japan to become the No. 2 global economy.

The ruling Communist Party celebrated with the most expensive Summer Games to date in what foreign media dubbed China’s “coming out party,” echoing the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 that symbolized Japan’s recovery from its defeat in World War II.

Now, China is leveraging its economic might against complaints by the U.S. and other governments over trade, technology theft and its treatment of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Muslim minorities.

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