Why China Frightens: Beyond the Realm of Western Political Forms

Russia in Global Affairs. 2026. Vol. 24. No. 4. P. 138–167.

Kaspe S. I.

This article examines the stereotypes about China that prevail in the West and Russia and make them perceive it not only as a strategic challenge, but an existential threat. The article demonstrates that the most common fears are overstated and counterfactual, and that they are grounded in the West itself. Modern China cannot be identified through the concepts and terms commonly used in the West. The West orients itself in the political realm and takes political action mainly through classifying countries according to their political forms, comparing them, contrasting them, and combining them. China does not fit in any known political form: it is not an empire, not a nation-state, not a democracy, not a dictatorship, not a tyranny, not an oligarchy, not a federation. China frightens because it is perceived as formless. And the more uncertain the West is about the stability and legitimacy of its own political forms and its right to impose them, the more frightening China is. Currently, this uncertainty keeps growing.

Keywords: values, fear, threat, the West, China, political forms, formlessness