How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World
Published in 2005, China Inc. by Ted C. Fishman makes some scary accurate predictions about the role of China in the global economy. Reading this book in 2022, it serves almost as a checklist of predictions that have already come true. Though written from a perspective of wanting to preserve American hegemony, I still found it to be an interesting read from a globalization perspective.
It is becoming increasingly evident that global markets have been shifting away from North America and Europe into emerging Asian economies. For many, China provides an opportunity for vast riches in a relatively untapped market. Take into account some of the mindboggling stats from the book:
- Three hundred million rural Chinese are expected to move into urban centers from 2005-2020, equivalent to the size of Houston every month
- China has more speakers of English as a second language than America has native English speakers
- American companies can expect, on average, a 42% return on their China operations
- There are 186 MBA programs in China
- China’s sex industry alone needs 1 billion condoms a year
China Inc.: Hindsight is 20/20
I have to commend Fishman on an eerily accurate prediction on a number of factors tied to China’s explosive growth. The underlying tone of the book, however, seems to be one of caution in that China will want to become the new America. And this is where I have to disagree, armed with the confidence of being able to reflect in the year 2022.
COVID-19, or the coronavirus epidemic, turned the world upside down and threw all major economies for a curveball with the global shutdown in 2020. When the logistics and manufacturing worlds came to a screeching halt, it became quite clear China was not going to relinquish its role as mass producer of cheaply made goods to a hungry consumer market in the West.
It also goes without saying there really is no desire, at the population level or at the upper echelons of government, to make a move to a more democratic state. The Chinese government’s aim is not to give its citizens a life equivalent to that of the West. It is simply to keep them fed and housed well enough to maintain the status quo.
Recommendation: Read with Skepticism
Although China Inc. does well to highlight the advances and sheer economies of scale in China relative to other superpowers, it misses completely the motive for the Chinese government to poise itself as the next America. And the reason for that is, no real motive exists. Power is power, and can be materialized in more than one way.
More to come as we delve into another book that looks into modern day Chinese imperialism.
