The Chinese challenge and the disunited West

Abstract

AbstractThe chapter shows how, beginning with the Obama administration, the US government and Congress revised their views and strategy with respect to China, blaming Beijing for acting contrary to the letter and spirit of WTO law and violating other nations’ intellectual property, suppressing minorities, and bullying neighbours. It shows how the European Union gradually arrived at similar conclusions, but still tries to engage in business as usual. The chapter asks whether US allegations against China of systematic economic aggression are correct. According to the definition of economic warfare without armed conflict given in Chapter 2, China’s behaviour is mapped, based on a concept of structural power developed by British social scientist Susan Strange. It is recorded that China’s military footprint is growing, and that China’s economic expansion around the world is rapid, based on the Belt and Road Initiative, massive investment and presence in Africa, and investment in key industries and infrastructures of many Western countries. In addition to that, China’s financial influence is also growing fast, based on newly founded institutions, crediting foreign governments, and a larger role of the Chinese currency in international trade. China is also getting more innovative, but its quest for information and knowledge has a dark side, too: it shuts itself off from the internet, censors any content heavily, and uses cutting-edge technology for surveillance and repression of any people or ethnic minorities it considers to be potentially disobedient. Taking all these developments into consideration, Western democracies should be vigilant.