Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs --
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China’s World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict, David Daokui Li. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2024, 278 pp.
In any international relationship—whether cooperative or competitive—two parties are involved, and understanding the full dynamic requires considering both perspectives. David Daokui Li promotes his book as a solution to this challenge and as part of an effort to prevent global conflict. Unfortunately, the book fails to deliver on these promises. Instead, China’s World View offers an economically focused perspective on how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wants the world to perceive it, while avoiding an honest examination of the underlying tensions that undoubtedly concern the CCP. Readers should approach the book as a primer that highlights the CCP’s preferred narrative, emphasizing the economic dimensions of China’s rise.
The book usefully explores how divergent viewpoints are expressed within communist China. In the absence of electoral politics and free speech, Chinese decision-makers incorporate information into policy formation in ways that differ radically from democratic systems. Li explains how protests occur and how diverse perspectives are collected within a highly authoritarian framework. While a superficial understanding of Chinese domestic politics might suggest that dissent and private-sector decision-making are uniformly suppressed in favor of party orthodoxy, Li demonstrates that this is not entirely the case. Understanding how the Chinese system gathers and processes information is essential to comprehending its decision-making process.
Moreover, the book skillfully integrates individual stories into its broader narrative. Rather than relying solely on abstract trends, such as rising living standards and incomes, it grounds these sweeping changes in the experiences of real people. By highlighting individual stories, the book reveals how the ostensibly communist system incorporates market forces into its economic structure.
The book effectively explains the structure of the Chinese political system and its inherent limitations. The author details the relationships between China’s major institutions and their roles in advancing the CCP’s objectives. Additionally, the book examines why thinkers both within and outside China believe the Chinese model of governance cannot be easily exported. As the author argues, “it would be highly unlikely for China to brand (China’s government) and export to the rest of the world, since leaders in China know very well that Chinese cultural and historical settings make such a job impossible” (200). Instead, the book emphasizes what China seeks from the international community—most notably, respect and a return to its perceived historical greatness. While readers should approach this analysis with skepticism—particularly the notion that China’s focus is primarily inward—the author convincingly argues that Chinese leaders themselves recognize the challenges of replicating their model in other nations.
However, the book suffers from several significant weaknesses.
One notable shortcoming lies in its treatment of manufacturing. China has consistently resisted transitioning into a consumer-driven economy by keeping wages artificially low. While many economists argue that cheaper goods benefit the global economy, this perspective overlooks the downsides for nations that become net importers. This free-trade rationale once dominated American economic thought, but growing numbers of Americans now feel exploited by the trade imbalance. Given that the book’s intended audience is Western readers, it should have done more to address these frustrations and to explore how the CCP views this imbalance. Instead, the author merely asserts that Chinese manufacturing is inherently more competitive, leaving critical nuances unexamined.
The book lacks any serious analysis of the military challenges the CCP faces. China presumably feels boxed in by the United States and its allies, particularly Taiwan, yet the author offers no meaningful exploration of what this means for China’s worldview. Rather than engaging with this deeply uncomfortable topic, the book includes coy, offhand remarks, such as the claim that while the US exports weapons used for killing worldwide, China is criticized for exporting surveillance equipment primarily used for law enforcement. In a book ostensibly focused on China’s worldview and reducing the likelihood of global conflict, directly addressing the Taiwan issue—described by The Economist as the most dangerous place in the world—is imperative.
Ultimately, the book offers a multidimensional understanding of China’s worldview, but only in ways the CCP would approve. It is difficult to extend the author the benefit of the doubt when he avoids politically sensitive topics. By presenting only the CCP’s self-perception, the book fails to address key sources of tension in the US–China relationship. Despite these shortcomings, it provides valuable insight into how the Communist Party makes decisions and into the economic dimensions of the Chinese system. However, it must be read with this limited scope in mind, rather than as a comprehensive analysis of China’s view of the world.
Is this book worth reading? Yes, because it illuminates how the CCP perceives itself. Any reader will benefit from its clear explanation of the unique economic and decision-making mechanisms underpinning the Chinese system. While these are important concepts to understand, the book ultimately falls short of its ambitious goal of reducing global conflict. By avoiding real sources of tension and presenting only the narrative the CCP wishes to promote, it limits its value as a broader analysis of China’s worldview.
Vivek Thangam
Bureau of Industry and Security
US Department of Commerce