NEW in the Second Edition

A new, 20,000 word Afterword examines the shift in power between China and the West – and in particular the US – since the Western financial crisis in 2008. Since the publication of the first edition of When China Rules the World, we have moved into a new era, characterised by the rise of China, and the now-clear decline of the United States; this is the beginning of a ‘Chinese World Order’. China, rather than the United States, is now the main shaper and architect of globalisation, and in the coming years, China will move to a new kind of foreign policy, characterised by the rise of Chinese ‘soft power’. Hitherto, the West has seriously underestimated China’s potential impact on the world: the Chinese state will come to exercise a major global influence, hastened by the decline of the United States as a world power.

The new edition has been comprehensively updated; China is changing with incredible speed, and the first edition, published three years ago, is already out of date.

The paperback is a quarter longer than the hardback, and nearly half the text has been revised or rewritten.

New sections on the ageing of China’s population, urbanisation, the rise of China’s mega-cities, the relationship between India and China, and between the US and China, a major new discussion of Europe’s relationship with China, and an examination of how the international system will be shaped and transformed by China’s rise.

Virtually all the charts, graphs and maps are new or have been updated; with dozens of new charts, graphs and data visualisations, the case for China’s rise to global prominence is presented with greater scope and precision than ever before.

Some of the key arguments in the book have been developed and expanded. One of its fundamental concepts – the highly-influential vision of China as a ‘civilization-state’ – has been very significantly developed.

The chapter on the Chinese economy now takes full account of the way in which it is moving from being based on cheap labour to engaging increasingly in value-added production based on rising expenditure on research and development. The Chinese economy is not only growing with great speed, but also changing with great speed.

New sections cover the rise of the renminbi, how its role is likely to evolve, and how it is ultimately likely to replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

An analysis of the difficulties China has faced in East Asia since 2010, and the US’s efforts to reassert itself in the region – the so-called pivot to Asia.

The section on the relationship between Australia and China has been considerably expanded; Australia now features throughout the book, as the China-Australia relationship may well be a test case for the relationship between the West and China.