Definition
One of the most remarkable developments in world politics in the last two decades has been the rise of China as a great power. Today it is the most important challenger of the USA – the long-time, but now declining, absolute hegemon among the imperialist states – on economic, political, as well as military levels. China’s rise has been the result of the combination of a rapid process of capital accumulation based on the super-exploitation of the domestic working class as well as foreign and internal colonies, the existence of a Stalinist-capitalist one-party dictatorship, China’s foreign policy projects (e.g., the “Belt & Road Initiative”), and the building of a powerful army.
Introduction
History has experienced repeatedly the rise and fall of Great Powers – the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, or the Ottoman Empire – to name only a few. In...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
References
Abdulla, H. (2019, September 11). Xinjiang apparel supply chain risks extend beyond. https://www.just-style.com/news/xinjiang-apparel-supply-chain-risks-extend-beyond-china_id137017.aspx. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Alvaredo, F., Chancel, L., Piketty, T., Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2018). World Inequality Report 2018, Belknap Press Eurasia Group (2020) Top Risks 2020, https://www.eurasiagroup.net/issues/top-risks-2020 (accessed 4 February 2020).
Atli, A. (2016, January 3). Role of Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region in economic security of China – Analysis. Journal of Turkish Weekly. https://www.eurasiareview.com/03012016-role-of-xinjiang-uyghur-autonomous-region-in-economic-security-of-china-analysis/. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
BBC. (2017, October 18). Xi Jinping: ‘Time for China to take centre stage’. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-41647872. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Bishop, Bill (2018, January 19). China wants to reshape the global order. Axios China. https://www.axios.com/chinas-growing-global-aspirations-in-the-xi-jinping-era-1516305566-aa5be206-c156-4313-8229-cfa88af9b75a.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=&stream=top-stories. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Bloomberg. (2018, December 16). China built a global economy in 40 years. Now it has a new plan. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-12-15/president-xi-jinping-s-next-moves-dictate-china-s-economic-future?srnd=premium-europe. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
China Labour Bulletin. (2008, June 6). Migrant workers in China. http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/100259. Accessed 1 Aug 2012.
China News Portal. (2019, September 29). Press Center conference to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Founding of New China: Promoting higher level of opening up and promoting High quality Development of Business. http://www.chinanewsportal.com/news/2019/0929/1919/5d90a172fbf8c257462921f0. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Chinese Human Rights Defenders. (2018, July 25). Criminal arrests in Xinjiang account for 21% of China’s total in 2017. https://www.nchrd.org/2018/07/criminal-arrests-in-xinjiang-account-for-21-of-chinas-total-in-2017/. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Colvin, G. (2019, July 22). It’s China’s World. China has now reached parity with the U.S. on the 2019 Fortune Global 500 – A signifier of the profound rivalries reshaping business today. https://fortune.com/longform/fortune-global-500-china-companies. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Credit Suisse Research Institute. (2018). Global wealth databook 2018.
Crouzet, F. (2001). A history of the European economy, 1000–2000. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.
Derudder, B., Liu, X., & Kunaka, C. (2018). Connectivity along overland corridors of the Belt and Road Initiative, World Bank discussion paper, MTI Global Practice, No. 6.
Dessein, B. (2014). Faith and politics: (New) confucianism as civil religion. Asian Studies, 2(1), 39–64.
Eurasia Group (2020) Top Risks 2020, https://www.eurasiagroup.net/issues/top-risks-2020 (accessed 4 February 2020).
European Commission. (2019). European economic forecast, autumn 2019, Institutional paper 115.
Forbes. (2017). Forbes Global 2000 list (2017). https://www.forbes.com/global2000/list/45/#tab:overall. Accessed 8 Apr 2018.
Fortune. (2019) 2019 Fortune Global 500. https://fortune.com/global500/2019/search/. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Froud, J., Johal, S., Leaver, A., & Williams, K. (2012). Apple business model. Financialization across the Pacific, CRESC working paper series, working paper No. 111.
Gan, N. (2018, January 18). Make China great again: Communist party seeks to seize ‘historic’ moment to reshape world order. http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2128711/make-china-great-again-communist-party-seeks-seize. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Guo, R. (Ed.). (2017). China Ethnic Statistical Yearbook 2016. Macmillan: Palgrave.
Hong Kong Trade Development Council (2017) Changing Global Production Landscape and Asia’s Flourishing Supply Chain, 3 October 2017, https://hkmb.hktdc.com/en/1X0ABHUR/hktdc-research/Changing-Global-Production-Landscape-and-Asia%E2%80%99s-Flourishing-Supply-Chain (accessed 4 February 2020).
Horn, S., Reinhart, C. M., & Trebesch, C. (2019). China’s overseas lending (Kiel working paper, No. 2132). Kiel: Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW).
Huang, Yang. (2013). “Perceptions of the Barbarian in Early Greece and China.” CHS Research Bulletin 2, no. 1 (2013). http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hlnc.essay:HuangY.Perceptions_of_the_Barbarian_in_Early_Greece_and_China.2013
Hurun. (2017). Hurun global rich list 2017. http://www.hurun.net/EN/HuList/Index?num=8407ACFCBC85. Accessed 11 Aug 2018.
International Labour Organization. (2019). The global labour income share and distribution. https://www.ilo.org/global/statistics-and-databases/publications/WCMS_712232/lang%2D%2Den/index.htm and https://ilostat.ilo.org/topics/labour-income/. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Jiang, Jingyi, & Yi, Kei-Mu. (2015). How rich will China become? A simple calculation based on South Korea and Japan’s experience, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. The Region (June).
Kim, K. S. (1991). The Korean miracle (1962–1980) revisited: Myths and realities in strategy and development, Kellogg Institute at the University of Notre Dame, Working paper #166, November 1991.
Kroeber, A. R. (2016). China’s economy. What everyone needs to know. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kroll, L., & Dolan, K. A. (2017, March 20). Forbes 2017 billionaires list: Meet the richest people on the planet. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2017/03/20/forbes-2017-billionaires-list-meet-the-richest-people-on-the-planet/#78dc4b4462ff. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Kuo, L. (2018, October 16). Internment camps make Uighurs’ life more colourful, says Xinjiang governor. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/16/internment-camps-make-uighurs-life-more-colourful-says-xinjiang-governor. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Lenin, V. I. (1916). Imperialism and the split in socialism (Lenin collected works Vol. 23). Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1964.
Majid, N. (2015). The great employment transformation in China, International Labour Office, Employment working paper, No. 195, Geneva.
OECD (2017) OECD business and finance outlook 2017. Paris: OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264274891-en. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
OECD. (2018). OECD business and finance outlook 2018. Paris: OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264298828-en.
People’s Bank of China. (2019). Official reserve assets. http://www.pbc.gov.cn/diaochatongjisi/resource/cms/2019/11/2019110715580915686.htm. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Pröbsting, M. (1996/97). Der kapitalistische Aufholprozeß in Südkorea und Taiwan. Revolutionärer Marxismus (20). https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/kapitalismus-in-suedkorea-taiwan/. Accessed 4 Feb 2020. Summary in English language: Capitalist development on South Korea and Taiwan. Trotskyist International, 21 (1997). https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/capitalism-in-south-korea-taiwan/. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Pröbsting, M. (2012). China‘s transformation into an imperialist power. A study of the economic, political and military aspects of China as a Great Power. Revolutionary Communism (4). http://www.thecommunists.net/publications/revcom-number-4. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Pröbsting, M. (2014). The China Question and the Marxist theory of imperialism. Revolutionary Communism (32). https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/reply-to-csr-pco-on-china/. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Pröbsting, M. (2015, November 16). China’s “Socialist” billionaires. http://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/asia/china-s-billionaires. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Pröbsting, M. (2016). Marxism and the united front tactic today. Vienna: RCIT Books. https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/book-united-front/. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Pröbsting, M. (2019). Anti-imperialism in the age of great power rivalry. The factors behind the accelerating rivalry between the U.S., China, Russia, EU and Japan. A critique of the left’s analysis and an outline of the marxist perspective. Vienna: RCIT Books. https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/anti-imperialism-in-the-age-of-great-power-rivalry/. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Pröbsting, M. (2020, January 17). A temporary truce … to prepare for another war. On the meaning of the “Phase One” deal for the U.S.-China Cold War. https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/a-temporary-truce-to-prepare-for-another-war/. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Pröbsting, M., & Gunić, A. (2017). How the pentagon views the world situation. Revolutionary Communism (73). https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/pentagon-study/. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Qi, D. (2010). Chinese working class and trade unions in the post-Mao era: Progress and predicament. International Journal of China Studies, 1(2), 413–433.
Schoff, J. L., & Ito, A. (2019). Competing with China on technology and innovation. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. https://carnegieendowment.org/2019/10/10/competing-with-china-on-technology-and-innovation-pub-80010. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (2017) SIPRI Yearbook 2017 (Summary), https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/2017-09/yb17-summaryeng.pdf (accessed 4 February 2020).
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. (2018). SIPRI yearbook 2018, armaments, disarmament and international security. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. (2020, January 27). New SIPRI data reveals scale of Chinese arms industry. https://www.sipri.org/media/press-release/2020/new-sipri-data-reveals-scale-chinese-arms-industry. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
STRATFOR. (2020, January 6). 2020 annual forecast. https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/2020-annual-forecast-geopolitics-intelligence-global-risk. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Sun, I. Y., Jayaram, K., & Kassiri, O. (2017). Dance of the lions and dragons. How are Africa and China engaging, and how will the partnership evolve? New York: McKinsey & Company.
The Guardian. (2019, August 5). The Guardian view on the China-US trade wars: The global economy is at risk. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/05/the-guardian-view-on-the-china-us-trade-wars-the-global-economy-is-at-risk. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
The State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China. (2019). China’s National defense in the new era. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press Ltd.
The World Bank and Development Research Center of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China. (2013). China 2030. Building a modern, harmonious, and creative high-income society. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Turdush, R. (2018, 13 October). China is trying to erase the Uighurs and their culture. https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/china-erase-uighurs-culture-181012155613937.html. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2018). Real GDP per Capita in the Republic of Korea (South Korea). Retrieved 17 Sept, from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/KORRGDPC. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
UBS/PwC (2018) New visionaries and the Chinese Century. Billionaires insights 2018, https://www.pwccn.com/en/industries/financialservices/publications/billionaires-insights-2018.html (accessed 4 February 2020).
UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. (2018, August 13). Committee on the elimination of racial discrimination reviews the report of China. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23452&LangID=E. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
UNCTAD. (2018a). Trade and development report 2018. New York/Geneva: United Nations.
UNCTAD. (2018b). World investment report 2018. New York/Geneva: United Nations.
Wang, M. (2012). All under heaven (tianxia). Cosmological perspectives and political ontologies in pre-modern China. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 2(1), 337–383.
Wang, B. (2014, 31 March). China development compared to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2014/03/china-development-compared-to-japan.html. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Watson, A. (2009). Social security for China’s migrant workers – Providing for old age. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 38(4), 85–115.
World Uyghur Congress. East Turkistan, Brief history. http://www.uyghurcongress.org/en/?page_id=29681. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Xinhua. (2018, January 15). CPC newspaper says China should “grasp historic opportunity”. http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-01/15/c_136897189.htm
Zhang, F. (2010). Rethinking the “tribute system”. Broadening the conceptual horizon of historical East Asian politics. In Y. Zheng (Ed.), China and international relations. The Chinese view and the contribution of Wang Gungwu. New York: Routledge.
Zhao, L. (2017, June 21). 3 sea routes planned for Belt & Road Initiative. China Daily. http://english.gov.cn/state_council/ministries/2017/06/21/content_281475692760102.htm. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Zhu, W. (2017, March 8). Beijing listed as billionaire capital of world once again. China Daily. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2017-03/08/content_28470987.htm. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Pröbsting, M. (2020). Chinese Imperialism and the World Economy. In: Ness, I., Cope, Z. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91206-6_179-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91206-6_179-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-91206-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-91206-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference HistoryReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities