Advantage China: Agent of Change in an Era of Global Disruption

The influence of the People’s Republic of China on world affairs is increasingly keenly felt: in Asia, in Africa, in Latin America and in Europe and North America too. But what are the reasons for China’s rise and how can the West adapt? Advantage China explores these essential questions and the political, economic and cultural factors behind the answers. From the economic and demographic pressures of China’s domestic economy to the expanding economic influence of the Belt and Road Initiative, Jeremy Garlick looks beyond Western misperceptions of China’s rise to argue for new approaches to the international political order, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures and Tables Acknowledgements About the Author Introduction 1. China and the West 2. China, Agent of Change 3. China's Comparative Advantage 4. The Belt and Road Initiative 5. China's Relations with it's Neighbors 6. China's Relations with the Rest of the Global South 7. China and the West, Revisited Notes Selected Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Jeremy Garlick, PhD, is an Associate Professor at Prague University of Economics and Business. He specialises in China’s international relations, focusing primarily on the progress and regional implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) but also on China’s relations with Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), South Asia and the Middle East. He is the author of The Impact of China’s Belt and Road Initiative: From Asia to Europe (2020).

Review :
A clearly and concisely written analysis which shows that while China might not be the hero of the developing world it presents in its own government rhetoric, nor is it the villain so frequently presented in external criticisms of its emerging international role. Garlick assembles evidence which, with impressive rationality, he interprets and constructs a nuanced argument from. An important primer for one of the major geopolitical changes of modern times. Based on considerable mastery of the subject matter and years of experience and intellectual reflection, Jeremy Garlick has produced a compelling study of modern China. In this razor sharp and analytically rich new study, Jeremy alerts the West (defined as US and Europe in the volume) to the profound changes China has been, and is, going through and explains how and why China’s advances will affect, change and shape the West and the international order the West created following the Second World War. Jeremy Garlick has produced a fascinating and rigorous study that offers a much-needed holistic perspective of China’s rise as a global power in international development. The book’s approach, argument and intellectual breadth is refreshing and will inform both academic debates and the public perception on China’s role in the Global South and beyond. Few would contest the emergence of China as an important international actor – there is hardly a locale on the planet untouched by Beijing's investments and outreach. How did this come about and what does this mean? Jeremy Garlick's book offers compelling, thoughtful, and nuanced responses to these questions. Drawing on detailed case studies, commanding knowledge, and engaging analysis, the book provides a sobering, yet rarely perceptive account of China’s growing footprint around the world. In the process, Advantage China outlines a pattern of world affairs premised on the fusion of complex innovation and its creative contextualization through the evolution, experience, and practices of China’s international outreach. Jeremy Garlick has produced a masterful account of the widening gulf between China and the West, namely the US and the EU. As China appears to side with Russia against the West in the context of the Russo-Ukrainian war, Garlick views this behavior through the lens of the Global South. Under the guise of non-alignment, most developing countries are quietly following China’s cues. This is because Beijing has steadily engaged with these countries through trade, investment, loans, and aid for development. Chinese public diplomacy based on non-intervention and mutual respect has incrementally built strong ties across the Global South. Garlick cautions that Western politicians and policymakers, anxious to fault China on numerous counts, overlook this bigger lesson at their own peril. Despite containing scathing criticism of the Western approach to China, Advantage China is not a left-wing screed, but rather a serious case study of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), seeking to explain why and how China has an advantage over the West in the Global South. Advantage China is an excellent book with thoughtful insights about China’s interactions with the Global South through the BRI... The book’s comparative analysis of China’s, the US’s and the EU’s approaches to the Global South provides plenty of insights for students, academics and policymakers to ponder as they strive to better understand China’s rise.