China's Global Rise: Implications for the Americas

RELEASED TODAY: 

Americas Quarterly Winter 2012 Issue:

China's Global Rise: Implications for the Americas

Growing economic and diplomatic ties between China and Latin America have boosted economies and shifted political dynamics in the Americas. How do Beijing’s development, trade and geopolitical goals intersect with regional development and politics? Do these goals challenge U.S. economic and geostrategic interests? Find out in the new issue of Americas Quarterly.

The Winter 2012 AQ adds new perspective and details to the China–Latin America relationship in a series of articles by both top China specialists and Latin Americanists. Elizabeth Economy of the Council on Foreign Relations and Zhang Mingde of the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies—both China experts—explain China’s world view and foreign policy. Osvaldo Rosales of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean analyzes how Chinese manufactured exports undermine the region, and our signature Charticle lays out the facts about Chinese trade and investment.

In other articles, journalist Mike McDonald discusses the weak state capacity and pervasive crime that threaten Guatemala and Nicaragua as both inaugurate presidents to new terms. Silvio Waisbord of the George Washington University cautions that, far from solving the censorship and inequality of old media, social media also faces challenges of state manipulation and lack of professionalism. Gregory Elacqua of Universidad Diego Portales argues that the Chilean student protest movement has shaped public opinion but has yet to influence public policy, and Stephanie Leutert reports from Ecuador on the plight of Colombian refugees.

Access content from this issue, as well as the latest blog posts and web-exclusive articles from our 23 contributors across the Americas, at www.AmericasQuarterly.org. We also invite you to visit our social inclusion portal featuring voices from historically marginalized groups. Follow us on Twitter: @AmerQuarterly, and like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/americasquarterly.

ON CHINA [full-text available online]:

Time for a Strategic Reset [Video interview available]
ELIZABETH ECONOMY
Unless the leadership in Beijing changes course, it faces increasing isolation.

CHARTICLE: The Fast Ramp-Up
RYAN BERGER
The economics of the China–Latin America relationship.

Much in Common
ZHANG MINGDE
A senior Shanghai scholar says China poses no threat to the region.

PHOTO ESSAY: East Meets South
KEITH DANNEMILLER
Mexicans and Chinese learn, play and work together.

Trade Competition from China
OSVALDO ROSALES
The impact of Chinese exports on four countries in the region.

PLUS [full-text available online]:

Guatemala’s Military Man, Nicaragua’s Revolutionary
MIKE MCDONALD
The newly elected leaders of Guatemala and Nicaragua are familiar. So are the problems they face.

Media 1.5 [Audio interview available]
SILVIO WAISBORD
New technology has expanded the media choices available to Latin Americans. But don’t expect it to usher in a new era of citizen engagement.

. . . AND MORE

The Rise of China's Economy - Thomas G. Rawski

THE RISE OF CHINA’S ECONOMY
By Thomas G. Rawski
Foreign Policy Research Institute, June 2011

Thomas G. Rawski, Professor of Economics and History, joined the University of Pittsburgh's faculty in 1985 after fourteen years at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on the nature and implications of recent developments and long-term changes in the economy of China. He delivered this paper at A History Institute for Teachers, March 19–20, 2011 on “China and India: Ancient Civilizations, Rising Powers, Giant Societies, and Contrasting Models of Development,” held at the University of Pennsylvania. This History Institute was co-sponsored by The Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Wachman Center as well as by three centers at the University of Pennsylvania – Center for East Asian Studies, South Asia Center, and Penn Lauder CIBER (Center for International Business Education and Research). [1]

China’s remarkable economic boom, now in its fourth decade, has spawned numerous discussions of “China’s Rise.” [2] Beijing’s self-congratulatory slogan “China’s peaceful rise” has advanced this theme. From a historical perspective, however, this terminology seems misplaced. Both the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1912) empires occupied key positions in Asian trade and diplomacy. Crude figures compiled by Angus Maddison, author of several sweeping studies of global economic history, show China contributing nearly one-third of global output as late as 1820. The great boom of the late twentieth century has enabled China to regain some of the global economic weight and leverage that the Middle Kingdom enjoyed during the Ming and much of the Qing eras.

The industrial revolution pushed European and North American productivity far ahead of China and India, former giants whose combined share of global output plunged from nearly half to under one-tenth between 1820 and 1950. [3] Prior to 1800, Europeans — for example Marco Polo [4] — viewed China as prosperous and well-governed. As China’s relative economic position eroded, opinions shifted. Both Europeans and Chinese came to view China as a backward society whose very foundations—families, beliefs, values—obstructed progress. Hu Shi (1891-1962), a prominent philosopher who served as China’s wartime ambassador to the United States, summarized this perspective in Chabuduo xiansheng (差不多先生), a witty vignette portraying Chinese people as incapable of the precise thinking needed in the modern world. [5]

China’s recent economic boom, along with the success of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore, demonstrates that Chinese culture is not inimical to economic progress. Indeed, the opposite perspective, which sees Chinese society as unusually capable of producing individuals who can operate effectively in market systems, helps to explain China’s historic prominence as well as its recent economic surge.

(read complete text here)

China's Rise: Regional Responses and Lessons for Washington - Hudson Institute

China's Rise: Regional Responses and Lessons for Washington
Hudson Institute
Wednesday, October 27 12:00 - 2:00 PM
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As recent incidents in the East China Sea, South China Sea, and Yellow Sea confirm, China’s military expansion and the possible implications for American strategic interests in Asia are serious. Less known is the evolving strategy that countries such as Taiwan, Australia, Japan, and South Korea are crafting in response.

Discussants include:
Dan Blumenthal, AEI Resident Fellow, speaking on how Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are seeking to respond to China’s rise.

John Lee, Foreign Policy Fellow at Sydney's Center for Independent Studies and Hudson Visiting Fellow, speaking on the evolving nature of China’s multidimensional challenge to U.S. strategic primacy in Asia.

Andrew Shearer, Director of Studies at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, speaking on the current Australian response.

Hudson Senior Fellow Seth Cropsey will chair the discussion and will speak on the lessons Washington ought to be learning and how the United States should respond.

This event will be streamed live on Hudson's website, www.hudson.org/WatchLive.