China: The Balance Sheet: What the World Needs to Know Now About the Emerging Superpower

by C. Fred Bergsten, Bates Gill, Nicholas R. Lardy

For centuries, China has proven difficult for Americans to understand. Today, however, China is becoming one of the most powerful countries in the world. As the 21st century unfurls, the stakes have never been higher for getting US policy toward China right. The direction that China and US-China relations take will define the strategic future of the world for years to come. No relationship matters more―for better or for worse―in resolving the enduring challenges of our maintaining stability among great powers, sustaining global economic growth, stemming dangerous weapons proliferation, countering terrorism, and confronting new transnational threats of infectious disease, environmental degradation, international crime, and failing states. And for the United States in particular, a rising China has an increasingly important impact on American prosperity and security, calling for some clear-eyed thinking and tough economic, political, and security choices. Put simply, the US-China relationship is too big to disregard and too critical to misread. This book is a joint project between the Institute for International Economics and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Genres: China, Economics, Business, Politics

224 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 2006

Reviews

[Hubert RvR · Rating 3 out of 5]

A comprehensive view on the reasons why China has managed to accelerate social-economic growth over the course of two decades proceeding 2006. The authors first present a researcher view on the key drivers of economic growth, name and elaborate 5 main drivers: (i) liberalisation of internal economy (embracing market forces); (ii) liberalisation of foreign economic policy (trade and FDI fostering initiatives); (iii) relatively high domestic savings and investment rates; (iv) structural shift in the labor force (from farmers to service economy); and (v) investments in primary education.
Then domestic social transformation is discussed and several important topics are analysed: social unrest, corruption, demographic explosion and aging, skewed gender ratios and role of CCP and democratic threats.

Furthermore, the prospects going forward (interesting from 2020 perspective) are elaborated on, especially from the US angle. Among key subjects the trade surplus (demystified import tarrifs), role in asian production networks, prevailing undervaluation of renminbi, insuffient IPR protection laws, etc.

Last but not least, security policy is discussed with special focus on China's position in the region vs. US global supremacy (Taiwan chapter), tough relationships with Japan and Koreas, to name the key ones.

All in all, interesting and informative, interesting especially from the 2020's perspective, while tensions between China and US become even more evident!

[Zhenwei Chan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nowadays, there are so many reports about China's trillion dollar forex reserves, the renminbi revaluation, the liquidity glut and resultant inflationary pressure. But what are the causes and results of all these phenomena? As with most press, they merely report but lack the editorial knowledge to explain. Along comes this book that explicates it all. Researched by the famed Peter Peterson and Centre for Strategic and International Studies, this book illustrates not just the economic front; how China would shape the global social-political and security landscape is also suggested. Now, u might think its a bit overwhelming for one book to cover. Fortunately, its only a hundred odd pages so its written in precise and concise manner.

I am a numbers person, so this book appeal a whole lot to me. Statistics and figures that are painstaking to find (especially for China) are tidily presented. For anyone trying to make sense of the situation in the Orient today, this book is a must read.

[Hafsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so prior to reading this book, I knew very very little about China aside from topics relating to trade with the US and being an "emerging economic power". The book is well-written, and presents a fairly balanced view of the country and its role in global politics today, ranging from economics, health care, education and foreign policy. However, the authors are definitely looking into the country from a US-foreign policy based perspective, so that may be a bit restricting in that the matter is being presented as either "threats" or "opportunities" in regards to its relationships with the United States.

[Kwame · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I understand, this is a work in progress that will be updated as more facts and developments occur. In my view, anyone who does not know what to make of China and its internal dynamics must read this very carefully. it is written very objectively and slays a number of urban myths while setting the record straight on China's rise and what this means for its relationship with the US and the rest of the world. because this book is worth reading, I will not place any spoilers but it confirms that China's development experiment is bud and ambitious but also far from complete.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

When browsing through a few recent books regarding China's economic and political status and future, I ultimately chose this one for it's seemingly balanced and unbiased information. Unfortunately, that also meant slogging through lots and lots of statistics- the book doesn't draw many conclusions for the reader, mostly just presents current situations and a myriad of futures possible for China. Informative, but not terribly interesting.

[Nidya · Rating 3 out of 5]

It gives us a lot of knowledge about China's macroeconomic condition and its foreign policy in general. However even the subtitle said "What the World Needs to Know Now About the Emerging Superpower", this book is actually more appropriate to be called "What America need to know about China". Well, at least we can prove the argument that U.S is really worried about the emerging China.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

China has problems. Just because a nation has no concerns for (it's own and/or any) people does not mean it is "Developing." SERIOUSLY, a country with a Developed market and a Developed inernational production/trade mechanism should not be considered a Developing Nataion simply because it's backward ideas about civilization predate the Moguls.

[b · Rating 5 out of 5]

super cohesive and informative

[Jack]

by no means a "comprehensive" account of modern china as it claims, but a good overview of china's domestic issues as well as its international relations, complete with numbers to back up its claims