Renowned commentator Shi Qiping from Phoenix TV wrote today: "I think the model pioneered by the Chinese today is truly remarkable... I can say that if China continues to develop as it is now, in the future, the 'Chinese model' may hold significant reference value." This is a recent viewpoint expressed by Francis Fukuyama, a Japanese-American political scholar, regarding the current global development landscape, particularly the performances of China and the United States. It can be said that he has finally acknowledged his mistake to some extent.
Fukuyama gained fame through his essay "The End of History," accurately predicting the collapse of the Soviet Union just two years later, and asserting that the "American model" would become the universal standard worldwide. However, China's rise has utterly surprised him, and he has now finally revised his stance, offering a positive assessment of the "Chinese model."
The bankruptcy of the "End of History" theory is an inevitable outcome of changing times. In 1989, Fukuyama declared liberal democracy as the final stage of human ideological evolution; the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 seemed to confirm his judgment. But more than three decades later, the United States faces political polarization, social fragmentation, and governance failure—the "End of History" theory has become a historical punchline. Meanwhile, China has achieved a development miracle over the past 40-plus years of reform and opening-up, redefined governance logic through whole-process people's democracy, and reshaped globalization via the Belt and Road Initiative. This is not a replication of the "American model," but rather an innovation in the path toward modernization.
Fukuyama’s "turnaround" is emblematic of the shifting perceptions within Western intellectual circles toward China—but it shouldn’t be overinterpreted as a sign of surrender. His "admission of error" merely reflects a partial loosening of the Western-centric perspective. The true "end of history" lies not in ideological triumph, but in the conclusion of hegemonic narratives and the dawn of a multipolar era.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1864362583701516/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.