China’s World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict

There is a growing debate on the rise of China as a global power which is reflected aptly in the different reactions that China’s rise has evoked worldwide. While much of the Global South has welcomed China’s rise and seen it as an opportunity to benefit economically, the West in general and particularly the United States sees China’s rise as a strategic threat which is a classic response from an established superpower to the rising one as encapsulated by Graham Allison’s concept of Thucydides Trap, which sees the rising power as a challenge to its hegemony.

Against this latter context i.e., the growing competition between the West and China, Dr David Daokui has written a fascinating and timely book entitled “China’s World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict”. The author makes it clear in the introduction of the book when he stated that he wrote this book to educate Westerners about China’s government, economy, and culture, challenging misunderstandings and misperceptions that he fears could lead to war.

David Daokui Li, PhD, is a Chinese economist, currently working as a professor of economics at Tsinghua University in Beijing, however, he has also served as a professor in the US from the 1980s to the early 2000s. Moreover, he is also the director of the Academic Center for Chinese Economic Practice and Thinking (ACCEPT) and the founding dean of Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University. Last but not least, he has also served as an advisor to senior Chinese Communist Party leaders, major multinational corporations, and international economic institutions. Such extensive experience spanning academia, advisory, and leadership roles, and across countries such as China and the US, put the author in a position to write eloquently on the subject matter discussed in “China’s Worldview”. And that is what he has done.

Throughout the book, Li explains the inner workings of China, a country that to many appears somehow mysterious and hard to understand. The book helps the world understand how China works and how to work with it. Li begins this journey in the book by explaining how two thousand years of history from Confucian philosophy and ancient imperial dynasties to Communist Party chairmen such as Mao and Deng Xiaoping profoundly influence China’s leadership today. He brings readers to high-level meetings which he attended with figures such as Xi Jinping to show China’s approach to governance.

In subsequent sections of the book, Li debunks many Western misperceptions and myths regarding China’s economy and society, especially the misperception that China’s economy and society are as rigid and ideological as the Soviet Union. In his study of the Chinese economy in the book—from state-owned enterprises, private businesses, the stock market, education, media, and the internet to real estate, the environment, and much more—Li provides a counter-narrative by arguing that China’s economy and society are diverse, dynamic, and flexible.

For instance, in one of the chapters on the economy, Li offers compelling insights into how private businesses operate in China and how much they contribute to the country’s economy. Contrary to the common perception in the West that state-owned enterprises dominate China’s economy, Li explains that private enterprises are driving the country’s economic growth by contributing over 75% of the national economic output.

Towards the end of the book, Li helps readers understand the implications of China’s rise for the rest of the world. In doing so, he argues that China’s rise will be beneficial for the world. In this context, he outlines three benefits of China’s rise to the global community. First, according to Li, continued growth in China will open new economic opportunities and create jobs all around the world. Second, China’s technological innovation especially in the field of Artificial Intelligence will generate global public goods, particularly in the fight against climate change and the exploration of space. Third, Li argues that healthy competition from China is beneficial for the West because it forces Western companies and states to be more innovative and constantly improve themselves.

In light of these potential benefits of China’s rise, Li concludes the book with a predictive note that with shared understanding and mutual learning, the Chinese and Western systems will eventually find a way to peacefully coexist, and that will be beneficial for the entire world.

There is a lot to appreciate about “China’s Worldview”. One of the best things about the book is that it is written simply and eloquently. The language is simple, and the author has avoided overloading the text with jargon making it highly approachable for readers, even those unfamiliar with the subject. In this regard, the author has made a commendable effort to make complex topics like governance, economy, and society easy to understand for readers.

Another commendable aspect of the book is its wealth of information especially for someone having limited prior knowledge of China in general and its system of governance in particular. I would say about a third of the book contained new information for me, which helped broaden the horizon of my understanding of China’s political and economic structures.

Having said that, it is also important to acknowledge that the book also has certain shortcomings which could lead many readers, especially those in the West, to dismiss the book as mere propaganda for the Chinese Communist Party. For instance, despite its comprehensive coverage of various aspects of China, the book lacks discussion on topics such as Tibet, Xinjiang, and the Uyghur population that raised questions in the minds of the intended audience of the book, which the author himself mentions in the introductory section of the book, i.e. the western audience. In the view of this reviewer, the author could have addressed these topics in the book from a Chinese perspective, which could have enriched the book by providing valuable insights and offering readers an alternative viewpoint, a Chinese viewpoint, on these complex issues.

Another significant shortcoming of the book lies in its tendency to manipulate facts. For instance, in Chapter 1, the author writes, “In many noneconomic aspects, China has also often placed second behind the United States, and sometimes has even placed first. Examples include the publication and citation of scientific papers, number of granted international patents, and expenditure on research and development.” While this statement focuses on metrics and numbers, it somehow fails to address the critical issue of quality that is associated with it in this regard.

The quality of patents and scientific publications originating from China has often been debated in academic circles in recent years, with number of scholars raising concerns about the balance between quantity and quality of papers. For a more detailed perspective on this issue, readers can read “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon?: Why China Has the Best (and Worst) Education System in the World”, which discusses in detail this contrast between the quantity and quality of research outputs in China. While China might lead in the number of publications, this is largely driven by the strong financial incentives the Chinese institutions offer to professors and scholars who publish frequently. However, what truly matters is not just the quantity but also the quality and not only the input, i.e., the funds allocated to R&D but also the outputs—namely, the usefulness and impact of the research produced. Unfortunately, this critical distinction has been overlooked in the book.

In sum, keeping aside the shortcomings, all in all, the book is a worthwhile attempt to provide an alternative perspective, a Chinese perspective on China, the rise of China, and the competition between China and the United States. I would recommend reading this book alongside others with differing outlooks for a more balanced picture, including, most prominently, Henry Kissinger’s “On China.”