Elizabeth Economy: China’s Vision for a New World Order | Foreign Affairs Interview

Economy is one of the foremost experts on China in the United States. A senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, she served as the senior adviser for China at the U.S. Department of Commerce from 2021 to 2023.

She stresses that if the United States wants to out-compete China, Washington needs to offer its own vision for a new world order; it can’t simply defend an unpopular status quo.

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[supramentalmanifestation]

In the age of click bait, thank you for producing and publishing high level, intelligent content.

[patbyrneme]

An interesting interview with some honest admissions. But still including a significant amount of BS. For example, Elizabeth said that the US is not trying to stop the Chinese people from increasing their living standards but we all know that if this was to happen then given the size of the Chinese population it would inevitably entail the Chinese economy becoming much bigger than that of the United States. And we all know that the bigger the Chinese economy becomes, the more dominant China will become on the military and geopolitical planes.
The interview also included a key level of misrepresentation. This was especially noticeable in Elizabeth's summary of China's Global Security Initiative. At the heart of this initiative is the aim of ending the main conflicts around the world which many in the Global South feel the US has helped to maintain as part of a neo-imperial divide and rule strategy. In the Global Security Initiative China argues that prosperity can only come through peace. And this explains its efforts in brokering the deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Plus its recent success in bringing together the various Palestinian factions as part of a serious long term plan to achieve a Two State solution in the region. Similarly, China is seeking to end the conflicts in the Horn of Africa, and of course in Ukraine.
This then brings us onto the economic issues. Those of us who approach the Chinese economy objectively, recognise that apart from the real estate bubble which China allowed to grow unchecked for far too long, and is now having to painfully deflate, Chinese manufacturing is expanding at a rapid pace. Thus all the complaints of "overcapacity". The reality is that the Chinese planning and investment system, combined with its mobilising force, cannot be matched by the G7 and associated countries. Thus the efforts by the US and its allies to sanction Chinese products and technology will fail. And in many cases will only accelerate China's rise.
One notable and puzzling element missing from Elizabeth's interview was any mention of the BRICS. Given its rapid rise I suspect that the United States will miss the boat in any future efforts it makes to make its foreign policy more "inclusive".

[crtteng]

China offers an alternative worldview, a parallel universe so to speak. Take the RU/UKR conflict for example, from our pov, a conflict of us vs. them in ideology (democracy vs. dictatorship of good vs. evil) with a physical and psychological demarcation right down the greater RU and NATO border. Yet, there are about 10 commercial trains crossing that demarcation line everyday from China to Germany and back, disgorging and loading goods along the way through its transit, thereby threading the EuroAsia commercial interests together. Guess which worldview and resulting consequence more amenable to most people in the world?

[branscombeR]

Excellent interview with Elizabeth Economy. Let's hope she remains part of the Harris administration, if that eventuates. R (Australia)

[kalipotmeng]

Ms. Economy is 10x smarter than pottinger.

[lluc]

Yes. Liza was very right to point out: what is the end game/ end goal?

[yellowantonio-nado]

Honestly Elizabeth Economy is the only person I respect from the Hoover Institute 💐
She's well reasoned and not hyperbolic mostly

[davidbosak]

Western thinkers cannot get beyond the "dominance and subservience" mindset. They see all relations between countries that way. They can't understand what it is like to have a truly equal partnership based on respect. It's wild.

[lukuanvx]

The speaker has some good points. However, most western people did not really understand why Taiwan became the most dangerous place on earth. They blamed Xi on the tension between Mainland and Taiwan. The fact is that Xi and President Ma met around 2015 when the two sides were really very friendly because both sides agreed to adopt the ambiguity of the 1992 one China Consensus. Unfortunately, when the pro-independent DPP got the power, DPP tore this agreement and started to change the textbook trying to remove any histories of Taiwan related to Mainland China. This is indeed the first move of changing the Status Quo. The people in Mainland watched DPP using the huge surplus (U$150B/year) with Mainland China to buy weapons from USA. Is it a surprise that Chinese would be angry? In fact, if China holds a referendum about if they want to use force to bring Taiwan back, the overwhelming majority would vote for using the military force. If Chinese people elect the next leader who will have no choice but starting the reunification by force immediately. So, Xi is actually trying to calm down the anger of his people. He really wants peace in Europe, in Middle East, in South China Sea, and between Mainland and Taiwan. If he and Trump were to meet again, he probably would encourage Trump to work on semi-automatic gun control to bring peace and safety to the American people.

[alexism]

just a thought, if you want democracy on a global stage, maybe a chinese or congoleze citesens vote on global matters should be equal to that of an american or frenchmen vote in the future, of course, when after a chinese or congoleze will be able to vote in it own country first, otherwise, what do you call a 1 bil technologcal advanced group of people that is the west, or other if it arises society, what do you call when a minority of 1 bil technological advanced group of people imposing its policies on the other 7 bil people, apartheit, that what you call such a system, if you want a democratic world, imagine a democratic world, with everyone having a proportional voice when it comes to global matter that affect all the people on the planet, whats local, leave the responsability to the local, but if its global, make the responsability global, otherwise, we will have a pace race that will resemble more the age of colonialism, where small, actors on a confined space, competing and waring on the earth for some barren planet a couple of solar systems away, instead of working together as a human species to explore the universe together united in all our capabilities and resources

[coachtaewherbalife]

We're in a position to coax China to join the Western world order and isolate Russia. As their economy dips, the US can take a lead role and praise their development of Africa. We can use their model as a framework through which we can improve Central and South America. Take away their motive to take over and allow them full participation.

[georgeanthony]

Convince China to impliment Habeas Corpus and reform its judicial system... take Xi to task about constructive business relations...