MANILA, Philippines – British economist, Cambridge University graduate and scholar Dr. Martin Jacques, author of the global bestselling book “When China Rules the World” and speaker at a lecture on Nov. 19 Monday 12:30 p.m. at Hotel Intercontinental in Makati City, said the United States needs to adjust to a new world order with a resurgent China becoming an equal and no longer a subordinate. He said the Philippines should “positively engage and benefit from the rise of China.”
When asked to comment on the South China Sea disagreements, Dr. Jacques urges Philippine government leaders “to de-escalate the territorial dispute with China” and follow the example of Malaysia which also has Spratley Islands disputes with China but both countries enjoy “good diplomatic and economic relations.”
Dr. Martin Jacques is a columnist for Britain’s The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian and New Statesman. He is visiting fellow at London School of Economics Asia Research Center, visiting professor at Japan’s Aichi University, at China’s Renmin University and a visiting fellow at the Asia Research Institute of the National University of Singapore (NUS).
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China is unique among the world’s most populous nations in that it considers itself ethnically near-homogenous, Martin Jacques writes in an essay at the BBC News Magazine. “[M]ore than nine out of 10 Chinese people think of themselves as belonging to just one race, the Han,” he says. But it wasn’t always so. As Jacques explains, the history of ethnicity in China is far more complicated than this suggests, with lessons for both how that makes China unique and what it means for the country today.
The history of China, he suggests, is in some ways a story about ethnicity.
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I DROPPED by Diliman a few days ago to leave a copy of the book “When China Rules the World” for political science professor Dr. Clarita Carlos. She had kindly accepted my invitation to be one of the four-member Panel of Reactors to the lecture of the same title by Martin Jacques, author of the book, which will be held at the Hotel InterContinental on November 19.
(If you happen to be interested in understanding China more, and in the process understanding better how we as a country should deal with the Peoples’ Republic, then I hope you’ll find time to attend. There is a minimal lecture fee, and to get more details contact Pilipinas 2020 through the email pilipinas2020@ymail.com.)
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Norwegian historian says China must develop closer, stronger relations with its neighbors
Odd Arne Westad insists those who claim China has been inward-looking for much of its recent history are making a serious error.
The Norwegian historian believes it is a major fallacy that often leads to a completely false view of the former Middle Kingdom.
“Anyone in East Asia in the mid-18th century who said the Qing Empire (1644-1911) was particularly inward-looking would have been sent off to have their heads examined,” he says.
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BEIJING // Did the coming out party for China’s first aircraft carrier symbolise the rise of the world’s next superpower?
It depends. Like the country, the answer is complicated.
After two decades of nearly constant double-digit increases in military budgets that have seen the country invest in a dizzying array of hardware, from new submarines to latest-generation cruise and ballistic missiles,China now spends more on defence than any nation except the United States.
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When the economist Jane Golley joined the federal Treasury in 1994, she was assigned to a single-person desk overseeing China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea.
It was only a few years after the collapse of the Soviet empire. The US was at the apex of its power and influence. Francis Fukuyama, a noted American scholar, confidently predicted the ”end of history” – a scenario where the entire world would embrace America’s brand of liberal democracy and capitalism.
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WHEN economist Jane Golley joined the federal Treasury in 1994, she was assigned to a single-person desk overseeing China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea.
It was only a few years after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the United States was at the apex of its power and influence. Francis Fukuyama, a noted American scholar, confidently predicted the ”end of history” – a scenario where the entire world would embrace America’s brand of liberal democracy and capitalism.
Fast-forward 18 years and the global financial crisis has humbled the once-mighty US. China is within striking distance of overtaking the US as the largest economy in the world and Americans are awake to the reality that China – as Hillary Clinton famously put to Kevin Rudd – is their largest banker, by virtue of the central government’s multi-trillion dollar holdings in US treasuries.
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The rise of China is reshaping the world in profound ways that are bringing about new political, cultural, intellectual, moral and military consequences, and yet we mistakenly continue to view China from a Western perspective, according to author and China academic Martin Jacques. He recently gave a lecture on the topic for Sydney University’s China Studies Centre and Sydney Ideas.
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A warning’s being issued by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence today. It says there’s a danger of economic espionage and cyber-sabotage from two top Chinese telecommunications companies that are trying to move into the U.S. market.
The bi-partisan report — some of which is classified — says Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corporation are too close to the Chinese government and could be used to spy on U.S. citizens, businesses and government.
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Author of When China Rules the World says he’s been vindicated
Martin Jacques says China doom-mongers were typically dismissive when he argued the former Middle Kingdom would have a central role in shaping the 21st century.
In his book, When China Rules the World, which some regard as a potential classic, he forecast China would become the world’s largest economy by 2027, albeit using Goldman Sachs data, and that we were all going to be living in a more Sinocentric world.
His critics said the more likely scenario was that China was going to succumb to a crisis that completely knocks it off track.
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