Power and Sustainability of the Chinese State

Since the start of the 21st century China has risen to the status of an important world power. This book examines Chinese power, focusing in particular, although not exclusively, on its economic capabilities, and considering how this is likely to develop in the future. It provides a detailed assessment of the key facets of Chinese power today, including GDP, growth, multinationals, and technological and scientific innovation. It identifies the key trends in these areas, compares China’s experience with other important global powers such as the US, and considers how this is viewed by the Chinese themselves, including through the lens of their popular culture and mass media. It goes on to identify the foremost problems facing China and the Chinese state today, including fiscal management and public finance, poverty, inequality and rural development, and considers whether China is capable of overcoming these challenges and continuing its remarkable economic development. It addresses crucial questions such as the impact of globalization on Chinese power, and whether Communist Party rule is sustainable for the foreseeable future.

Keun Lee is the director of the Institute for China Studies and a professor of economics at the Seoul National University, Korea. His main research topic is the economics of catch-up applied in the context of corporate governance and growth, industrial policy, and innovation and technology policy in Korea and China.

Joon-Han Kim is currently President of the POSRI (Posco Research Institute). Previously, he was a Senior Fellow at the Daegu-Gyeongbuk Development Institute, the Construction & Economy Research Institute of Korea (CERIK), the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET), and also taught at the Hanyang University. His main areas of research are public finance and industrial economics.

Wing Thye Woo holds the New Century Chair in International Trade and Economics at the Brookings Institution (Washington, DC). He is also Professor at the University of California (Davis), the Yangtze River (Zhang Jiang) Professor at the Central University of Finance and Economics (Beijing), and the Director of the East Asia Program in the Earth Institute, Columbia University.