China’s Real Ambition: A Soft, Hard, Sharp Strategy

A recent Pew poll showed that policymakers and the public generally see China’s rise as a profound challenge to the United States, with about nine in 10 Americans seeing China as a threat or competitor. However, the “why” is often missed.

Elizabeth’s new economic book “The World Through China’s Eyes”There is still a long way to go to solve this problem. Economics scrutinizes the economic, political, and military goals of China’s leaders and explains how they intend to displace America’s rise, writing a guide to understanding and responding to the rising superpower.

Economics, who took a sabbatical from Stanford University’s Hoover Institution while serving as a senior adviser at the Commerce Department, made it painfully clear that an earlier policy of strategic engagement, the reason behind the 2001 decision to welcome China to the World Trade Organization for trade, was very outdated. Inevitably, Washington and Beijing will increasingly clash over world leadership, as President Xi Jinping puts it, what he longs for is “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” “China’s view of the world — celebrating China’s centrality as a geographic fabric and as a political and economic center — is one that leaves little room for the United States, its allies, and the values ​​and norms they support,” the economy wrote. road.

As China strives to expand its influence in the world, the economy differentiates its use of three powers.This soft power Beijing has worked to enhance its international reputation, using its authoritarian style as a model for responding to the pandemic, including delivering vaccines to countries around the world and expanding its state media to reach new audiences in Africa and Latin America.

This hard power This is manifested in the continued military intimidation of Taiwan and the crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong, as well as the construction of an airstrip on the disputed South China Sea reef and the opening of its first military logistics base abroad in Djibouti. Economy’s description of his interactions with key figures in China’s rise makes his book even more compelling, in one instance he recounts a conversation in Beijing with two military scholars who casually told him that they The country should eventually have many military bases around the world, like the United States.

Economics explains China’s use of sharp power, as the Journal of Democracy put it in a 2018 report outlining the new concept, which “focuses on distraction and manipulation.” The sharp power is increasingly on display as Beijing uses access to the vast Chinese market as leverage over multinationals. For example, consumer boycotts organized on China’s tightly controlled internet were used to ensure these Companies are quick to back down and go along party lines. Likewise, the long-standing “forced” technology transfer, or the practice of requiring multinational companies to transfer technology at the expense of the attractive Chinese market, also falls into this category.

Economics dedicates a chapter to two of China’s most important goals: promoting its own technology to dominate the international market, and promoting Chinese technology standards that will eventually replace those dominated by the United States, just like 5G. This would allow Beijing to stop paying royalties and start earning them, giving companies and the country an advantage. Like many national priorities, Beijing has set a target date for the second – 2035 – and has begun promoting its officials to the top leadership positions in standards-setting bodies, including the International Telecommunication Union and the International Organization for Standardization. This is also in line with Dominated with Beijing’s desire to exert greater influence in world governance, which would allow it to “legitimize China’s notion of state rights and inalienable inalienable individual and economic rights”, as well as opposing citizens and social rights of rights. political rights,” which is one of Beijing’s main priorities, Economy said.

None of this is easy. The biggest recipients of the infrastructure China has financed and built through its massive Belt and Road Initiative, these countries are unlikely to favor China. In the Czech Republic, which attracts a lot of Chinese investment, only 10% of the population expressed trust in China, according to a 2020 poll by the China Europe-Asia Institute. And in Kazakhstan, a survey by the Eurasian Development Bank showed that only one in six considered it a “friendly country”.

Meanwhile, Beijing’s growing authoritarian movement has sparked a global backlash. Private tech companies such as Huawei and TikTok parent ByteDance are facing sanctions, and Confucius Institutes, seen as “Chinese propaganda agents”, are being forced to close on university campuses. “China’s future ability to achieve its broader foreign policy goals is thus increasingly influenced by its insistence on controlling state and non-state actors,” Economy wrote.

One thing this book doesn’t delve into is how China’s massive internal challenges, such as rising inequality, severe regional imbalances and a rapidly ageing population, may prevent its leaders from realizing their grand plans. Some economists now believe these domestic hurdles may even prevent its economy from overtaking the United States. But that’s not the point of this book, but to reveal the nature and drivers of Xi Jinping’s ambition to “reshape the world order,” as the economy puts it.

The economy ends with helpful policy advice to “reaffirm American leadership.” These include a “recommitment to immigration,” critical to maintaining America’s technological competitiveness, and expanding the “tent” to include new “like-minded allies,” while continuing to work with China on climate change and world health. With his extensive knowledge of Chinese policymaking and his years of interaction with the country’s elite, Economy has written an informative book that has sounded alarm bells for America and the world.

Special to The Washington Post – By Dexter Roberts

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