To cite this article: Rajiv Ranjan (2018) China’s contingencies and globalisation, Strategic Analysis, 42:4, 459-460.

Changgang Guo, Debin Liu and Jan Nederveen Pieterse, China’s Contingencies and Globalisation, London, Routledge, 2017, 220 pp., £90.00 (hb), ISBN 978 1 138 29305 2

China’s Contingencies and Globalisation was initially published as a special issue of the Third World Quarterly and consisted of papers presented at the Seventh Annual Global Studies Conference at Shanghai University, in June 2015. The current volume has three sections. The first four chapters of the book focus on impact of globalisation on China; the second section consisting of three chapters examines the economic transformation of China after the opening up; while the last four papers concentrate on the broader themes of the changing society, religion and culture in China.

Liu Debin and Yan Zhen in their chapter ‘Engaging with Globalisation: Chinese Perspective’ review the works of Chinese stalwarts specialising in globalisation, that are unavailable in English. Interestingly Liu and Yan also trace the development of social sciences in China; and in particular the popularity of the global studies programme in China following globalisation. The success of global studies and social sciences in general, has led the Chinese to develop new globalisation strategies. For instance, they are of the view that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the AIIB are the new globalisation strategies of China, which however are not meant to replace the existing governance structures but complement them.

Many scholars of international politics are of the view that eventually China might want to replace the existing international system. Thus, the debates are fundamentally centred on how China will replace the United States from the world’s leadership position? Will the transition be peaceful or violent as the proponents of proverbial ‘Thucydides Trap’ are predicting? Ren Xiao, professor at Fudan University, Shanghai, in his chapter, analyses China’s position and policies with regard to G20 and international monetary system reforms. Ren finds that China is a reform-minded status-quo power that ‘seeks changes for greater institutional power and for better governance’ but does not want to overthrow the existing system, and is determined to avoid the ‘Thucydides Trap’. Ren’s assertions also indicate that China is reformist until it becomes part of an organisation but afterwards, becomes status-quoist. For instance, China did not want to join Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) initially, as it would have hampered the China-Pakistan nuclear partnership. However, since it became a member in 2004, it does not support India’s membership to the elite club unless it adheres to norms and rules, such as the NPT membership, which India considers as being a pretext to obstruct its membership.

Like China’s growing role in international affairs, Beijing’s handling of domestic issues is widely discussed, debated and criticised by the outside world. The Wukan Protest in 2011, which the foreign media, and to some extent the national media in China, covered extensively. While the foreign media suggested that it was indicative of the potential for the collapse of the state and termed it another pro-democracy movement after 1989; the domestic media largely focused on the demands of villagers. In this volume, Daniel Vukovich compares Hong Kong’s ‘Occupy movement’ and the Wukan ‘uprising’ to examine the limits of convergence thinking with regard to ‘democracy’ in the Western sense and the party-state of the PRC. He suggests that Hong Kong’s democrats have to learn from Wukan to ‘find their place within the righteous rebellion mode of working within as well as against the political system of the PRC’.

Liu Shih-Diing provides new insights to understand the complex fabric of partystate and ‘restive society’ and the profound transformation in Chinese society since the 1990s. Liu holds that the transformation of the party-state has facilitated the creation of conditions for popular resistance. He emphasises, that with the ‘further penetration of reform to all spheres of the economy and segments of populations, the actors involved in protest politics have become more diverse and fragmented’. Moreover, the party-state which has ‘increasingly withdrawn from everyday social space’ has obliterated the ‘indispensable point of contacts between the Party-state and the masses’ and also ‘freed up more autonomous spaces for ordinary citizens to articulate their demands and coordinate contentious actions’. Liu, therefore, believes that the party-state facilitates popular protest to reclaim the ‘lost space’ to ‘discern mass discontent, monitor local governance, correct the misguided policies… and recapture the regime legitimacy’.

In addition, Guo Changgang and Zhang Fengmei, in their well-articulated and meticulously structured chapter on religion and social stability sketch the historiography of religious policies since the Han Dynasty. They are of the view that China has created a ‘state-lead, church follow’ model, whereby the state manages religious affairs to facilitate governance and ensure the social stability of the secular state. Unlike the popular belief, held outside the mainland, that China lacks religious freedom, Guo and Zhang highlight, that with the rapid rise in the numbers of religious believers, the CCP is constantly revising and updating its religious policies. They also believe that as in ancient times, the CCP is tolerant of religious freedom and organisations as long they ‘don’t endanger political and social stability’. The authors also warn that the current setting is not sustainable, as China cannot afford to be isolated in this interconnected and globalised world.

The volume consists of well researched, methodologically sound and coherently written chapters on China and globalisation, mostly by Chinese scholars, which enables readers to understand how China perceives and deals with globalisation. China’s Contingencies and Globalisation is an engaging read and a must for scholars and students of China studies to gauge how China and the CCP will traverse the transitions and adapt to the changes in contemporary world politics.

*The Reviewer is an Assistant Professor at the College of Liberal Arts, Shanghai University, China.