The Idea of ​​China – Second Line of Defense

By Pierre Tran

Paris – The title of a new book –The Idea of ​​China: Chinese Thinkers on Power, Progress, and the People(European Council on Foreign Relations) – gives a sense of what motivates Beijing when its leaders look at the world and think about how it works.

This may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it somehow opens the Western gates of perception of China, as the West and the emerging Global South shape their international relations policies.

The authors, Alicia Bachulska, Mark Leonard and Janka Oertel, contacted approximately 100 Chinese sources over the past two years, seeking to examine and explain what motivates China in the wake of Cold War conflict.

There is a thoughtful exposition of the key concepts underlying President Xi Jinping's drive, allied with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, to seize a leadership position in the global order, seen by the Chinese leader as plunged in a state of chaos.

ECFR's book examines leading Chinese analysts and officials who seek to provide interpretation of what is happening at home and abroad, guided by the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) policy statements and public remarks by Xi, closely monitored.

The authors outline Beijing's approach to issues such as climate change, artificial intelligence with a Marxist approach, the importance of the Chinese yuan in global finance, the role of women in social change and the determination to spread Chinese opinions and values ​​​​in the world.

The Chinese thinkers cited argued that during the Cold War era, China was seen in the West as a revisionist power seeking to upend the status quo led by the United States, an emerging Western power newly invigorated after World War II .

China under Xi is not the country many Western leaders grew up in, the authors argue in the summary.

She determinedly carves out her own place in the world. Ideas generated by China could be its next major export – with serious consequences for Europe, prospects for prosperity and universally accepted standards.

This highly accessible book seeks to bring the reader up to speed with the Chinese way of thinking, drawing on three concepts, namely the pursuit of pflower in response to a perceived breakdown of the international order; search for social and economic progress; and gain Chinese support People.

Bachulska and Leonard presented the book on October 9 at the ECFR office here. Copies of the book have been made available free of charge.

The vast majority of Chinese contacts contacted by the authors were desperate to talk, Leonard said, and were surprisingly open. This was following a prolonged and strict Covid lockdown.

The government's quest for Chinese nationhood, to solve the problem of population decline, is a major problem for governance, Bachulska said. The role of women is a major issue, with a new generation of women resisting the authorities' pursuit of traditional values ​​that women's place is in the home.

The government has clear ideas on the role the Chinese people should play in strengthening and promoting China, she said in the chapter on the people. Whether or not the people agree with these wishes is another question. China is not a desert of ideas; The Chinese are not devoid of ideas.

The authors explain how key Chinese nationals working in think tanks, universities, and institutions interpret and discuss the policy lines established by the CCP and Head of State Xi. A notable feature are the brief summaries, with thumbnail sketches, of Chinese scholars and officials. Many of them have studied abroad, including Cambridge, Chicago, Columbia, Delft, George Washington, Harvard, London School of Economics, Oxford, Rutgers, Sheffield and University College London.

China sees a shake-up in the international order, with a decline in the leading role of the United States

This is evident in Xi's remarks to Putin, Leonard said. The beginning of the book references an NBC News clip broadcast on March 23, 2023:

We are now witnessing changes the likes of which we have not seen in 100 years, Xi said. And it is we who are leading these changes together.

I agree, Putin said, wishing the Chinese leader a safe journey home after their six-hour meeting in the Kremlin.

The Stiftung Mercator, a German non-profit organization, and the Irish Foreign Office supported the book, published in Poland.

China, military and commercial power

We are closely interested in what is happening in China, the world's second largest economy, whose health has repercussions around the world. This extends to its military capacity.

A new Chinese nuclear-powered attack submarine sank in a port around May or June, a senior U.S. defense official said, Reuters reported September 27, following a report in the daily financial Wall Street Journal.

The reason for the sinking was unclear and it was unclear whether the boat, first in its class, was carrying nuclear fuel at the time, the news agency reported, along with a Planet Labs satellite image of the shipyard from Wuchang, where the submarine would have been moored. .

Still on the military front, the Chinese People's Liberation Army organized a large military exercise on October 14, called Joint Sword-2024B, around Taiwan. These military exercises included a naval operation in the Taiwan Strait, a strategic approach to the breakaway state.

Taiwan reported that 34 PLA ships and 125 aircraft were deployed around the island during the exercise, seen by the Chinese regime as a show of force by Beijing in response to Taiwanese President William Lai, who said that it would resist annexation, the BBC reported.

Concerns about China's perceived security threat led then-Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to strike a deal with the United Kingdom and the United States to build an attack submarine to nuclear propulsion as part of the AUKUS agreement in 2021. The choice of an atomic boat caused a nuclear submarine project to fail. French conventional submarine Shortfin Barracuda, launched by Naval Group.

China's long reach includes serious consequences for a struggling German auto industry.

Falling demand in China for Mercedes-Benz and Porsche cars is forcing premium German carmakers to cut costs, with the latter planning to cut costs by billions of euros by 2030.

Competition from Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers could be seen at the very prestigious Paris motor show in mid-October, with nine Chinese electric vehicle brands on display.

Chinese automakers such as BYD and Leapmotor are seeking to expand in Europe, prompting the European Union to impose import duties of up to 45% on Chinese electric vehicles seen as benefiting from state subsidies.

Beijing responded to the EU by imposing temporary security deposits on imports of European brandy, hitting French brands Hennessy and Rémy Martin.

China's economy is expected to grow 4.8% this year, according to an October 15 Reuters poll, which would be below the government's growth target of around 5%. The forecast increase in gross domestic product for 2025 is expected to weaken further to 4.5%.

There appears to be a variation on the old adage that when the United States sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold, with global concern sparked by China reaching for a tissue.