China, Trade and Power: Why the West’s Economic Engagement Has Failed

Few people could tell you what happened on 11th December 2001, yet China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) will define the geopolitics of the 21st century. What were Western leaders thinking at the time?

This book tells the story of the most successful trading nation of the early twenty-first century. It looks at how the Chinese Communist Party has retained and cemented its monopoly of political power - producing undreamt of riches for the political elite. It is the most extraordinary economic success story of our time and has reshaped the geopolitics not just of Asia but of the world. As China has come to dominate global manufacturing, its power and influence has grown. This economic power is being translated into political power and the West now has a global rival that is politically antithetical to liberal values.

Meanwhile economic liberalism has lost its moral foundation, in part because economic outcomes are not perceived to be the result of fair competition. The weaknesses of the West’s democratic model are being laid bare as the lack of wage growth coupled with the policy of inflation targeting by Western central banks has led to falling real incomes for the many, and rising asset prices that have benefited the few.

In order 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 will the West be able to change direction for the better, and row back from the harmful consequences of China’s accession to the WTO.