You make an interesting point. China will be the dominant economic and technological superpower shortly. How do you deal with them, how do you influence them?Chinese century, obey or else...
China’s internal economy has grown so much over the last two decades that it might be getting closer to the point that it is self-supporting so concerns over diminished overseas trade may not be such a threat.I haven't looked up the numbers, but I assume that China gets a vast amount of income from making stuff for the rest of the world - I can't see why they would deliberately knacker the global economy.
Some very good points here, but not sure about "China's imperialist past" unless you are referring to the domination by the Han and later dynasties of the various groups which comprise China as we know it today. I suppose they could be accused of cultural imperialism given the written language came to dominate the surrounding areas, including Japan. I'm not aware of much foreign military intervention by China, apart from Korea and Vietnam where they were aiding allies.Think this comes down to way of life, and which version you subscribe to. Is the Western version perfect, no. Has it got a lot to answer for? Yes. Does it produce dolts like Trump and Boris on occasion? Yes, but on the whole it is better than the version Xi is peddling (have been to China and have done business with China). Xi and his government want to be the world's dominant power and are keen to undermine the West. They have openly stated as much - Communism + plus state sponsored capitalism trumps the West’s tired old model of democracy and free-market economics. Xi also has wants to revive China’s imperialist past (a bit like our own Brexiters quaint as their misguided ambitions may be). The Chinese aren't building islands in the South China Sea and threatening Taiwan for shits and giggles. Comparing China to other countries, e.g Russia, is a bit of a false equivalence because China's economy is larger and tightly integrated into the world’s economy (Russia's being much smaller and largely old-school resource dependent). Not sure what to do about it all but the West, having welcomed China into the fold over the last 30-odd years (one strategy), is now beginning to wake up - which is a start.
It was always their stated aim to build up a big internal market, and reduce reliance on exports.China’s internal economy has grown so much over the last two decades that it might be getting closer to the point that it is self-supporting so concerns over diminished overseas trade may not be such a threat.
China’s internal economy has grown so much over the last two decades that it might be getting closer to the point that it is self-supporting so concerns over diminished overseas trade may not be such a threat.
Not sure they could feed their 1.4 b population without importing thousands tonnes of grain from around the world.
An existential threat like that would be met with a massive show of force. China has been busy using investment-led soft power all around the globe: deep water ports, railways, roads and bridges, anywhere there’s raw materials.Are you seriously suggesting trying to starve a nuclear power with the largest armed forces ?
Indeed: One Belt One RoadAn existential threat like that would be met with a massive show of force. China has been busy using investment-led soft power all around the globe: deep water ports, railways, roads and bridges, anywhere there’s raw materials.
The only considered objection to it (and I’ve seen several of China’s projects in Africa and Asia) that I’ve heard, was from someone in Laos where they were considering a Chinese-built railway line. Their objection was that China wanted control over a 6km corridor through which their railway would run. You have to see that in the context of what he said later in the conversation- that Lao children were still being killed by munitions dropped by the USA on their tiny country 50 years earlier. 20,000 civilians have been killed alone since the war ended. America dropped 2 million tons of ordinance on a country no bigger than Michiagan. They’re not going to be receptive to complaints of Chinese hegemony from the West.Indeed: One Belt One Road
I think many in the West don't have the faintest idea of the level of investment in infrastructure by the PRC, both at home and around the world.