Takeshi Hamashita, arguably Asia's premier historian of the longue durée, has been instrumental in opening a new field of inquiry in Chinese, East Asian and world historical research. Engaging modernization, Marxist and world system approaches, his wide-ranging redefinition of the evolving relationships between the East Asia regional system and the world economy from the sixteenth century to the present has sent ripples throughout Asian and international scholarship. His research has led him to reconceptualize the position of China first in the context of an East Asian regional order and subsequently within the framework of a wider Euro-American-Asian trade and financial order that was long gestating within, and indeed contributing to the shape of, the world market. This book presents a selection of essays from Takeshi Hamashita's oeuvre on Asian trade to introduce this important historian's work to the English speaking reader. It examines the many critical issues surrounding China and East Asia's incorporation to the world economy, including: Maritime perspectives on China, Asia and the world economy Intra-Asian trade Chinese state finance and the tributary trade system Banking and finance Maritime customs.

China is playing a growing role in the world economy. It is one of the world's fastest growing countries and is the tenth largest exporter. China is also a significant recipient of foreign aid and a major borrower on international capital markets. Even more significantly, it is attracting vast amounts of foreign direct investment. China in the World Economy examines the implications of China's emergence as a major player in the world economy. Its integration into the international economic order poses major difficulties for the rest of the world. These problems including bringing China's mixed market/centrally planned economy into the GATT, adapting to competition from labor-intensive Chinese exports, encouraging further market-oriented reform, and accommodating its demand for international capital. But China's participation in the global economy also offers important opportunities for trade, investment and international cooperation to promote world peace and stability. Nicholas Lardy anticipates that China will continue on a rapid growth path, thus magnifying the policy challenges and opportunities for its trading partners, including the U. S. He recommends a series of steps to facilitate China's full participation in the world economy.

Is the US losing its economic authority to China, whose global economic identity is being determined more by entrepreneurial spirit than developmental principle? Through the exercise of soft power and hard currency in some areas of the global economy, China has clear national interest in the protection of intellectual property rights, financial integration and sovereign wealth funds. China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will set new standard to global economic development.

The remarkable rise of China over the past three decades has been unprecedented in both its scale and speed. Analysts around the world have attempted to understand the causes of this unique event and to predict how long it will last. China's rise has also raised two important questions. The first concerns the stability and the sustainability of China’s growth, which has been accompanied by growing internal and external imbalances, rising inequality at home, environmental degradation and an increased risk of catastrophic climate change, and has happened in spite of the continuing, if diminished, role of the state in many sectors of the economy. The second concerns trying to guess what the effect of China’s rise will be on its relations with the rest of the region, the world and the existing global order. It seems only a matter of time until China becomes the world’s largest economy, and history suggests that it is unthinkable that this event would be without geopolitical consequences. The chapters in this volume draw on papers originally presented to the 34th Pacific Trade and Development Conference held in Beijing in 2010 to discuss these two big questions and China’s changing role in the world economy. This book will be welcomed by students and scholars of Chinese economics, business and politics, and those interested in the pervasive impact of China’s development on the global economy.

China's growing economic involvement in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America has been a source of major controversy. The official Chinese position maintains that the growth of bilateral relations is of mutual benefit and provides a good example of South-South cooperation. Critics on the other hand see the economic relations between China and other developing countries as highly unequal with most of the benefits accruing to China and a few local elites. They also point to negative socio-economic, political, and environmental consequences. How China is Reshaping the Global Economy: Development Impacts in Africa and Latin-America throws more light on these controversies through a comparative study of China's impact on the two regions. It looks not just at bilateral relations between China and the two regions but also analyses the changes in the global economy brought about as a result of the shift in economic activity from North America and Western Europe to Asia. This book looks at the factors which led to rapid economic growth in China and the way in which this has affected global manufacturing, commodity markets, the international presence of Chinese companies, and financial glows. It examines the different forms of Chinese economic involvement in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, the main drivers, and economic, social, political, and environmental consequences. It ends with a comparison of the two regions that highlights the importance of different histories and political and institutional contexts in determining the impacts of China. Since the first edition of How China is Reshaping the Global Economy: Development Impacts in Africa and Latin-America, China's role in the global economy has continued to expand and the Chinese government's foreign policy has become more assertive. The global presence of China has been marked by the expansion of the Belt and Road Initiative to almost 150 countries and the trade-war between the US and China, as well as increased Western concerns over the activities of major Chinese companies such as Huawei. This new edition documents these changes and their implications for SSA and LAC.

From a Western point of view, the policy of economic engagement with China has failed. A rapid rise in living standards in China has helped legitimize and strengthen the Chinese Communist Party’s power. How did Western, market-orientated, property-owning, liberal democracies go from being in a position of complete global hegemony in the early 1990s to the current crisis of confidence and loss of moral foundation? This book tells the story of the most successful trading nation of the early twenty-first century. It looks at how the Communist Party of China has retained and cemented its monopoly on political power since China’s accession to the World Trade Organization in December 2001. It is the most extraordinary economic success story of our time and it has reshaped the geopolitics not just of Asia but of the world. As China has come to dominate global manufacturing, its economic power has been translated into political power, and the West now has a global rival that is politically antithetical to liberal values. The supply-side deflation from allowing 750 million low-cost workers into the global trading system combined with the policy of inflation targeting by Western central banks has led to falling real incomes for many in the West and rising asset prices that have benefited the few. Worse still, China’s mercantilist model is now held up as a viable economic alternative. To have a fighting chance of protecting the freedoms of liberal democracies, it is of the utmost importance that we understand how the policy of indulgent engagement with China has affected Western society in recent years. Only then can the global trading system be reoriented for the mutual benefit of all nations.

How will China reform its economy as it aspires to become the next economic superpower? It's clear that China is the world's next economic superpower. But what isn't so clear is how China will get there by the middle of this century. It now faces tremendous challenges such as fostering innovation, dealing with ageing problem and coping with a less accommodative global environment. In this book, economists from China's leading university and America's best-known think tank offer in depth analyses of these challenges. Does China have enough talent and right policy and institutional mix to transit from input-driven to innovation-driven economy? What does ageing mean, in terms of labor supply, consumption demand and social welfare expenditure? Can China contain the environmental and climate change risks? How should the financial system be transformed in order to continuously support economic growth and keep financial risks under control? What fiscal reforms are required in order to balance between economic efficiency and social harmony? What roles should the state-owned enterprises play in the future Chinese economy? In addition, how will technological competition between the United States and China affect each country's development? Will the Chinese yuan emerge as a major reserve currency, and would this destabilize the international financial system? What will be China's role in the international economic institutions? And will the United States and other established powers accept a growing role for China and the rest of the developing world in the governance of global institutions such as the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund, or will the world devolve into competing blocs? This book provides unique insights into independent analyses and policy recommendations by a group of top Chinese and American scholars. Whether China succeeds or fails in economic reform will have a large impact, not just on China's development, but also on stability and prosperity for the whole world.