David Shambaugh’s enlightening book shows the positive aspects of China’s global power–and its flaws. Shambaugh presents examples of China’s internal power struggles, its obsession with public order and control. Controlling billions of people occupies plenty of the ruling elites’ time and energy and resources. Shambaugh notes that China has no close allies. Its neighbors like Japan are antagonistic. There are the problems of Taiwan and Tibet. China’s growth rate is slowing. Social turmoil always threatens the status quo. If you’re interested in China and its place in the 21st Century world, Shambaugh’s book provides much to ponder. GRADE: B+
George, thanks for bringing this book to my notice. I don’t think a day goes by when China is not written about in the Indian media. Everything they say and do makes news here. It borders on obsession. Although the two countries have forged friendly relations in recent years, it’s always in the backdrop of past suspicions of each other. We have fought a war. We have a major border dispute. Tibet remains a sensitive issue as the Tibetan government-in-exile is based in North India. New river dam projects in China is cause for concern. The China-Pakistan axis is another. Then there is the arms race. I agree, China has issues with most of its neighbouring countries.
Prashant, the US is obsessed with China, too, for other reasons. China is financing most of our debt (which continues to grow). The colleges and universities on our West Coast are flooded with Chinese students. But, as Shambaugh points out in CHINA GOES GLOBAL, China needs to keep growing its economy in order to preserve order. I don’t know if they can pull that off indefinitely.