ISBN: 0132281287

Here in Southeast Asia we are well aware of the continuing rise of China. Not only are supermarkets and department stores increasingly filled with Chinese goods but Chinese firms are opening premises, Chinese tourists increasingly take their place among the international cast, Chinese dams choke off the flow of the major rivers on which 50 million people rely, Chinese practices will come to affect the labour market and so on and on. Chinese have been coming to this area for thousands of years and many millions have settled here over the centuries. Consequently, no one is frightened of the Chinese people, although there can still be pent-up (and unjustified) envy and rage expressed towards them, as was clear of the riots in Indonesia in the wake of the 1997 financial crisis, as well as the Sino-Vietnamese War and the Khmer Rouge domination of Cambodia.

 However, in the wake of the fall of the Soviet Empire and the fizzling out of Japan as the coming threat, there seems to be a large audience in the USA for a new and scary enemy. This is one way of looking at Peter Navarro’s new book, The Coming China Wars, which takes a relentlessly negative view of all the many changes occurring in the Middle Kingdom.

And there certainly have been many significant changes. Many people will have become familiar with one statistic or another detailing the huge and sustained economic growth of China. Even those that have not will have noticed that oil prices continue on an upwards trend, as do those for seemingly all mineral resources, although they may not have thought to connect the disparate-seeming phenomena. Navarro lays out the statistics in full measure and uses what might be called (by a somewhat sniffy academic) a journalistic style for greater immediacy and emphasis. It is next to impossible to marry the kind of effect for which Navarro appears to be hoping with the normal academic paraphernalia of footnotes and discussion of sources and so forth and he does not try.

This is resolutely aimed at the airport business traveler, who wants hard-argued information and recommendations without, in general terms, the equivocations and hesitations of a more measured style. The result is rather similar to being hit over the head repeatedly with a hammer marked ‘Watch out, the Chinese are coming to get you.’

From the pollution spewed out by the many factories and power plants of the country to the willfulness with which intellectual property rights are ignored, rivers dammed and health and safety standards ignored, it appears that the Chinese are coming and will change everything for the worse. The reality of course is not quite so simplistic and not just because painting one side as completely black tends unfairly to obscure the faults that we on the other side have committed. For a start, it is a little unfair to blame a monolithic block of ‘The Chinese’ for the works of animal hunters who may have caused SARS or drug dealers who may be exporting chemicals from China for possible use elsewhere in creating methamphetamines or even the government seeking to secure influence and resources in the developing countries around the world.

 Very rarely is any meaningful attempt made to engage with the Chinese people as a whole and their aspirations or intentions. Of course, like people from all around the world they spend most of their time working to obtain better social and economic opportunities for themselves and their families and have no more interest in dominating or conquering people in other countries than would the people of the west (or the great majority of them) have in conquering China or anywhere else. Second, it rules out the possibilities for international negotiations and the balance of power among the nations, the importance of which the Chinese government understands all too well.

That does not of course mean that appropriate solutions to all problems may be found through negotiation but it would be rash indeed to discount the possibility of some being reached that way. The Chinese government understands the problems of global warming and its attendant environmental impacts and is willing to participate in international initiatives to tackle it. It will not do it alone.

Agree with Navarro or not, this book provides plenty of food for thought and will educate many people who are not aware of the reality of China’s situation and likely future changes. As ever, reader, find the information, read the competing narratives and make up your own mind informed by fact and not prejudice.

The above review was contributed by: John Walsh PhD:  Professor at Shinawatra International University CLICK TO VIEW  John Walsh's Reviews

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