The latest issue of International Socialism (theoretical journal of SWP, Britain) contains a useful review of an important new book. This charts the economic rise of China, to become, arguably, the largest economy in the world – https://tinyurl.com/Chinasize

The Chinese economy is still growing twice as fast as the USA economy. It is also wasting half as much on military spending.  So more money is available for investment in infrastructure etc.

The election of the ultra-nationalist, Trump, as US president has increased the hostility between the world’s two most powerful economies.

China depends more on the imports of computer chips than on oil. Taiwan is a major centre of chip production which is part of the economic argument for China wanting to re-unify. Their economies are already deeply connected.  “China’s headline export, the Apple iPhone is manufactured by a Taiwanese-owned company, Foxconn, that employs a million Chinese workers.”

This book argues that China is “state-orchestrated capitalism”. The state is very important for the development of the economy, but the country is clearly not socialist. As elsewhere, the 800 million working class is the hope for the future with impressive strike waves despite the official unions being controlled by the state.

Read the full review at:  https://isj.org.uk/making-sense-of-chinas-rise/

For further reading on China, see: https://ivavalleybooks.com/2024/11/25/china-in-global-capitalism-building-international-solidarity-against-imperial-rivalry/