A British journalist with experience reporting from China and Japan, Jacques explores the increasing influence of a strengthening China on international relations. Citing economic statistics in abundance, Jacques depicts China’s booming economy in relative ascendance over those of Europe, Japan, and the U.S. The author argues, however, that China’s civilization rather than its GDP will be the crucial impact on the international system, which he sees as Western-created, U.S.-dominated, and—given Jacques’ certainty that the U.S. is a declining power—destined to be modified by China.
Essentially, Jacques refutes that Western theories of modernization and democratization apply to China and predicts a Chinese style of modernity characterized by a revival of a Chinese historical sense of civilizational superiority. Delivering a tour d’horizon of China’s relations with foreign countries, Jacques envisions their future development as comparable to a comeback of imperial China’s tributary system. Jacques’ views will be discussion starters for trend-spotting students of the world scene.
– Gilbert Taylor
一本《当中国统治世界时：中央帝国的崛起和西方世界的终结》让马丁·雅克在中国学界名声大噪。对这位伦敦政治经济学院亚洲研究中心教授的观点，有人赞其理论新颖，有人批其哗众取宠，有人防其恶意捧杀……但在各种争议声中，马丁·雅克看好中国的观点被广泛传播。近日，本网记者在马丁·雅克的伦敦寓所对他进行了专访，听取了他在中国研究中的一些心得。
在马丁·雅克的客厅里，放着一个中药铺里常见的暗红色柜子，一个个小抽屉上用毛笔写着的”甘草”、”茯苓”等字样还隐约可见，柜子上则立着一个一尺多高的兵马俑仿制品。”这些都是我从中国淘回来的”，马丁·雅克不无得意地说。
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Long before it was trendy to do so, Martin Jacques was a firm believer that China would become a global power, and his latest book “When China Rules the World,” is attracting a lot of attention worldwide for his bold views.
The British intellectual, author and Guardian columnist was in Taiwan earlier this week for several talks on his book, through which he makes a powerful assertion – that not only will China rise, but that this will mean an end to the Western-dominated world. Nonetheless Taiwan can benefit from this, he believes, but it must grasp the opportunity to get closer to China or risk being left behind in the region.
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Published earlier this year, British author Martin Jacques’ book ‘When China Rules the World’ argues that the global environment is being reconfigured as a result of the re-emergence of China, a ‘civilization state’ with such a long and complex history that Western concepts of modernity cannot fully account for its significance. Jacques sat down with ‘Taipei Times’ staff reporter J. Michael Cole on Tuesday to discuss this development
Taipei Times (TT): When China Rules the World — that’s a very strong title. Will China, indeed, rule the world?
Martin Jacques: No. The title shouldn’t be taken literally. The theme of the book essentially is the rise of China to a point where it becomes the dominant global power and what that will be like, how it will exercise its hegemony and how that will differ from the Western era, particularly the American era. You need a catchy title that’s provocative and makes you think.
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It should not take a political economist to see how the scores of books being published on China’s “rise” vary in quality and outlook, reflecting as much the standpoint of their respective authors as the subject itself.
Doomsayers insist modern China will break down or collapse, Cold Warriors persistently condemn Beijing for whatever it does, alarmists panic at the thought of “communist” China succeeding at anything, pragmatists take a balanced view of the big picture, and incurable optimists see only the positive side.
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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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Regardless of how you feel about China, one thing is clear- that it has captured the imagination of much of the world for good and bad. With its surging economy and growing global importance, there has certainly not been a dearth of writers, academics and journalists who believe China will be the next superpower. Leading UK intellectual, Asia expert and journalist Martin Jacques’ latest book boldly proclaims that not only will China become a superpower that may lead the world, but its rise will signify the end of the dominance of the West (the U.S. and Western Europe) in global affairs.
With When China Rules the World, he has written an ambitious, insightful and wide-ranging piece of work that argues that China’s rise will shake up the world order, due to its unique sense of identity and culture.
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Jacques reveals the implications of China’s assuming the status of the world’s biggest market and most influential superpower in When China Rules the World
You write that China is playing a long game that’s very subtle and hard for the West to understand. Is this a consciously articulated strategy or a modus operandi central to Chinese consciousness?
I think it’s both. Because the U.S. is such a recent creation, the American timescale is extremely short. China’s civilization goes back 5,000 years, and the Chinese constantly access very distant history to illustrate the problems of the present. Kissinger once asked Zhou Enlai what he thought about the French Revolution, and Zhou Enlai said, “It’s too soon to say.” With that mentality coupled with its size and growth, the balance of power is constantly being reconfigured in China’s favor, and they can be patient. But it’s also conscious strategy; after the “century of humiliation,” they prioritized creating the best possible circumstances for development, and they’ve tried to get on with the countries that they perceive to matter.
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This is a formidable book which is also provocative. At its Kuala Lumpur launch, the author Martin Jacques asked that its title not be read literally, but its subtitle The Rise of The Middle Kingdom and The End of The Western World will not sit easy even among those who might not mourn the passing of that Western World.
The narrative is relentless, with remorseless, somewhat scary, conclusions. The central thesis is clear-headed: China will come to be the dominant power in the world and will bring to it its own hegemonic system based on its long history, civilization and culture which have special embedded characteristics different from those in the global system we know today. It will not be the same world simply with China at the top. It will be a world re-formed in China’s image where these special characteristics will determine the values, standards and practices of the international system.
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