An author shares his views on the growing clout of the world’s second largest economy.
AUTHOR and academic Dr Martin Jacques released an updated and expanded second edition of his widely acclaimed book, When China Rules The World: The End Of The Western World And The Birth Of A New Global Order, earlier this year.
During a recent visit to Kuala Lumpur when he attended an Asian Centre for Media Studies event, Jacques spoke to The Star about his book and its approach to the subject. Some excerpts:
How is the second edition different from the first?
Time. Because China is growing so quickly, China time is fast. There’s been a lot of updating throughout the second edition.
When I wrote the first edition, the 2008 (US-centred) financial crisis had just happened. The last chapter is about the crisis, which was little commented on before.
The second edition looks at the beginnings of a Chinese economic world order.
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Recent tensions between China and its smaller neighbors over territorial disputes in the East and South China Sea is seen by many as a sign of aggression as an emerging power. Will China be another colonialist, imperialist or a benevolent dictator?
Clarence Chua caught up with Dr Martin Jacques, the best-selling author of “When China Rules the World,” in Kuala Lumpur recently to find out more about the Middle Kingdom and its growing ambition.
China is the most populous nation and has overtaken Japan as the second largest economy in the world. But is China a superpower that could rival the United States?
“Definitely not. China is at the beginning of becoming a global power but in that sense it’s still a long way behind the United States. Economically it is still not strong enough. It’s still a developing country. Its foreign policy is not yet reached the point of, sort of comprehensiveness. Of course, in military terms, China is very very pale shadow of the United States.”
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Former Journalist Martin Jacques Attempts To Shed Light On China’s Economic Prowess In His New Book
AUTHOR Martin Jacques pulls no punches when he writes about the Chinese people and their perceptions about race in his book When China Rules the World.
He calls a spade a spade and much of his need to understand the psyche of the Chinese is perhaps influenced by the death of his Malaysian wife in a Hongkong hospital. He had filed a racial discrimination suit against the hospital after her death.
On her death, Jacques writes: “After a major campaign in response to the death of Harinder Veriah, a Malaysian of Indian descent in 2000 who complained about serious racial discrimination in a Hongkong hospital, the government was finally forced to acknowledge that racism is a serious problem and in 2008, mainly as a result of this case, belatedly introduced anti-racist legislation for the first time.”
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Renowned British author, broadcaster, scholar and journalist MARTIN JACQUES discusses his latest book, When China Rules The World: The rise of the Middle Kingdom and the end of the Western world with BUNN NAGARA in a comprehensive, 90-minute interview. Excerpts:
Is the provocative title to celebrate China’s rise, warn the West of its decline or fuel China-bashing?
None of them. It is to give a rough idea of what the book is about, to attract people’s attention.
Literal titles are boring, so it’s not a literal title. If and when China becomes the dominant power, the book shows what form of hegemony it would take.
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