Summary of Elizabeth C. Economy's The World According to China

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 China’s pandemic diplomacy is not just about responding to a humanitarian crisis, but about challenging the position of the United States as the world’s dominant power.

#2 Xi’s strategy reflects his domestic governance model: a highly centralized Party-state system that takes as its central priority preservation of its own power at home and realization of its sovereignty ambitions abroad. It is a system that grants Xi a unique capability to mobilize and deploy political, economic, and military resources across multiple domains.

#3 China’s robust response to the coronavirus marked a defining moment in Xi Jinping’s almost decade-long drive to reclaim Chinese centrality on the global stage. He and the rest of the Chinese leadership are not satisfied with their country’s position within the international system, the values and policy preferences that the system embodies, how power is distributed, and how decisions are made.

#4 China’s leaders want to reclaim their country’s centrality on the global stage. They believe that the last two centuries in which China was not the dominant global economy were an historical aberration. The current period, in which China’s economy will soon surpass that of the United States, will mark a return to its rightful place.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669356837

IRB Media

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Book preview

Insights on Elizabeth C. Economy's The World According to China

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

China’s pandemic diplomacy is not just about responding to a humanitarian crisis, but about challenging the position of the United States as the world’s dominant power.

#2

Xi’s strategy reflects his domestic governance model: a highly centralized Party-state system that takes as its central priority preservation of its own power at home and realization of its sovereignty ambitions abroad. It is a system that grants Xi a unique capability to mobilize and deploy political, economic, and military resources across multiple domains.

#3

China’s robust response to the coronavirus marked a defining moment in Xi Jinping’s almost decade-long drive to reclaim Chinese centrality on the global stage. He and the rest of the Chinese leadership are not satisfied with their country’s position within the international system, the values and policy preferences that the system embodies, how power is distributed, and how decisions are made.

#4

China’s leaders want to reclaim their country’s centrality on the global stage. They believe that the last two centuries in which China was not the dominant global economy were an historical aberration. The current period, in which China’s economy will soon surpass that of the United States, will mark a return to its rightful place.

#5

Chinese influence and power extends through the Asia Pacific, which is seamlessly integrated through Chinese-powered trade, technology, infrastructure, and shared cultural and civilizational ties. Chinese leaders promote the value of integration through trade, but also emphasize the value of security cooperation.

#6

China has long claimed that it supports the international system, but it has also argued that it was left out of the development of the post-World War II Bretton Woods System, as its political system was not compatible with the mainstream of the existing international order.

#7

China’s desire to reorder the world order is a tall one. American leadership on the global stage, its democratic alliance system, and the post-World War II liberal international order are deeply entrenched.

#8

China’s centralization of power and control over information allowed the government to lockdown Wuhan and prevent 11 million people from leaving the city, but it also allowed the government to silence doctors and scientists who were warning the public.

#9

The Chinese government’s response to the pandemic was successful, and the country emerged as the only major economy to post positive growth rates. However, China’s pandemic diplomacy resulted in a very different outcome on the international front.

#10

On New Year’s Eve, two separate WHO offices sounded the alarm bells. The WHO requested more information from Chinese authorities, who acknowledged the existence of a cluster of cases but provided very little additional insight.

#11

By mid-March,