The Writing on the Wall
Why We Must Embrace China as a Partner or Face It as an Enemy
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- $329.00
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- $329.00
Descripción editorial
Evaluating China’s economic and military presence in the twenty first century, critically acclaimed author of The World We’re In Will Hutton discusses why it is crucial for the United States to embrace the powerful country as a partner or face it as an enemy.
In this provocative and stimulating book, critically acclaimed author Will Hutton warns that China is running up against a set of daunting challenges from within its own political and economic system that could well derail its rise, leading to a massive shock to the global economy.
The United States, he argues, must recognize that it has a vital stake in working to assure this doesn’t happen, for if China’s political liberalization and economic growth collapse, the United States will suffer crippling consequences.
If the twenty-first century is to be the China century, the Chinese will have to embrace the features of modern Western nations that have spurred the political stability and economic power of the United States and Europe: the rule of law, an independent judiciary, freedom of the press, and authentic representative government that is accountable to the people.
Turning conventional wisdom on its head, The Writing on the Wall is a brilliantly argued book that is vital reading at a crucial juncture in world affairs.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In his latest take on global geopolitics, the economics editor of The Guardian performs an ambitious dissection of U.S. and Chinese economic policy, sounding the alarm that "the implications could not be more profound" should Western superpowers fail to shape China into a workable model of democracy and enlightenment. Delving into the 3,000 year history of the Chinese, Hutton introduces readers to Confucius and Mao, the rise of Chinese Communism and the political experiments that have left the Chinese economy "in an unstable halfway house-an economy that is neither socialist nor properly capitalist run by a party that is neither revolutionary nor subject to the normal constitutional checks and balances of even China's own Confucian past." The big questions-of how much longer the Communist party can deliver economically, of where the world will head if U.S. protectionism triumphs in painting the East as an enemy-are brilliantly analyzed, with an eye toward maximizing gain for all players: despite the fact that the U.S.'s "strategic trade policy-openness-is being exploited by a potential superpower rival," Hutton looks to the history of the U.S. to explain why, "if it can stay open, the U.S. will be rewarded by the ultimate achievement of transforming communist China and growing richer at the same time." This book pushes back from the center against those who see globalization as "a juggernaut threatening to carry us all away either to a free market nirvana-or hades" with sound historical overview and a rational call for economic pragmatism.
