Summary
It is clear that fundamental changes are coming to the Asian/Indo-Pacific, and South-American political landscape; these changes are constantly brought up in Graham’s article, published by the Atlantic. The changes are further highlighted and reinforced in the rest of the readings. The oddity is that seemingly none of the authors provide any sort of timeline for the escalation of events.
Looking back, it is clear that China is a marvel of innovation and effort. In less than 60 years they’ve changed what was once a largely agrarian economy into one of the leading global powerhouses of manufacturing and production. This is no accident and what is also somewhat highlighted is how China achieved this. It wasn’t just their communistic blend of industrialist capitalism but rather, some argue, the Confucian element that the CCP incorporated into its ideology that somehow gained general social compliance.
This dynamic change of function in China paved the way for the Chinese government to forge meaningful alliances with other rogue actors and plan how to best execute their long term objectives. It is generally uncontested that, eventually, someone on the US side is going to be asked to make a payment on their debt(s), and some sort of conflict will arise.
What appears to be occurring, due to international sanctions, is that this “rag-tag” team of the globe’s misfits are gravitating toward one another for economic, military, and political support—and can we blame them? Are international sanctions not pushing them closer to one another?
The reality is that the emergence of BRICS is no surprise to me; it was only a matter of time before the world’s bad faith actors got together and formed a “gang” to counter our, legitimate, political and economic goals.
2 replies on “China: the coiled Cobra”
Josh,
I like the title of your blog post! I would offer X observations on it. First, as you undoubtedly know if you’ve been reading the NYT and other periodicals lately, China’s economy is ailing, and there are some long-term trends that do not appear favorable–e.g., a rapidly aging population, over-control of the private sector, and simple resistance to Xi Jinping’s imposition of a totalitarian state. The result is that ‘”the bloom is off the rose” to some extent. Their economic model does not look as miraculous and appealing as it once did.
As for the BRICS, they are an awfully heterogenous bunch. Some are bad actors (Russia), but some are relatively good (Brazil)–and some we are actively courting as allies (India). It will be quite interesting to see what transpires once they have expanded their numbers. It is obviously nothing like the G7 or NATO, and their interests may well diverge. That said, it seems fairly clear that China both wants and expects to be the leader of the expanded BRICS. But the question is: how many of the others will follow China’s lead? –Professor Wallerstein
There is definitely meaningful alliances China has built throughout the world. Now the next step is what will they execute economically. They have their mark set in multiple continents in the world investing. BRICS is looking to expand to more members, and China’s currency (Yuan) is the talk of the foreign exchange circulation amongst them. New, significant developments are occurring currently, and we may see them sooner rather than later.