Review of ‘China’s Rise: Challenges and Opportunities’

This book is a sequel to the acclaimed ‘China: The Balance Sheet – What the World needs to know about the Emerging Superpower’, published in 2006 as a joint collaboration between The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and The Peterson Institute for International Economics. The project is an admirable one, as the intention of the authors is to provide crystalline analysis that can cut through so much of the white noise that often accompanies China-related debates in Washington. Refreshingly, although the leaders of the editorial team are all experienced China hands, they do not condescend to their readers, many of whom will have significantly less first-hand knowledge of China than they. In fact right at the outset, they rather wryly comment that: ‘American China watchers have the somewhat annoying competitive habit of comparing their first China experiences. Those who lay claim to the early 1970’s have special bragging rights. The more recent one’s trip to China, the less intimate is one’s relationship with China. This is a somewhat foolish hierarchy’(p.2). This observation sets the tone for the rest of the book whose primary aim is to demystify China for American policy-makers who might then be able to make more informed decisions regarding US-China relations.

It soon becomes clear that the authors are greatly alarmed by much of the thinking emerging from Washington as regards China, most evident in their discussion of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) recent rapid modernisation (pp 191-208). As the authors note: ‘Some on both sides in fact argue that military conflict between the United States and China sometime in the future is inevitable. This, of course, is not true.’ (p.205). One of the primary aims of the book is thus an attempt to shatter this kind of Cold War mentality that poses a threat that would extend beyond merely China-US bilateral relations. It is evident that the mutual distrust felt between the two powers is strong and historically rooted. The authors advocate a more subtle and even-handed approach on the part of US policy-makers: ‘Instead of focussing on bilateral problems and complaints, and seeking to co-opt China into a global economic system that it would try to continue leading by itself, the United States should seek to develop a true partnership with China to provide joint leadership of that system, even if the system requires substantial modifications to persuade China to play that role.’ (p.22)

This is a an interesting departure from then deputy secretary of state Robert Zoellick’s concept of China becoming a ‘responsible stakeholder’ initiated in 2005. Essentially an attempt to co-opt China into the existing international architecture, it has been strongly resisted by China’s leadership. Beijing feels no obligation to shoulder responsibility for a system that it had no part in formulating the rules. This is recognised by the authors.

The volume begins with a chapter that acknowledges the systemic challenges that China’s rise poses to the current global order, currently presided over by the US. This is followed by a series of candid discussions of China’s most pressing concerns; weaknesses of the Asian giant’s political economy that are often overlooked when the outside observer is confronted by China’s impressive trajectory over the past 30 years. All the key issues, such as democracy, decentralisation, corruption, energy policy, Taiwan and military development are broached with sensitivity to their controversial nature. They are placed in context and analysed in a way that is both open and constructive.

The book is an assessment of China’s challenges, both internal and external and how this will affect the world in general and the US in particular. It must be borne in mind that this book is ultimately written for US policy-makers. The authors suggest an adaption from the US’s current mode of engagement with China. Naturally such engagement seeks to maintain the US position in the global economy to that extent that it is possible, while taking advantage of the opportunities that China’s rise presents. This notwithstanding, it is an excellent reference for China watchers from any discipline who seek to further understand the complexities of the Chinese state.

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* ‘China’s Rise: Challenges and Opportunities’ by C. Fred Bergsten, Charles Freeman, Nicholas R. Lardy and Derek J. Mitchell is published by the Peterson Institute for International Economics (ISBN 0881324175).
* Lucy Corkin is a PhD candidate at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and resident Macau Forum analyst for Fahamu’s China in Africa programme.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.