Publisher's Synopsis
While the US portrays itself as a noble example of freedom and democracy, it has in fact led the world to greater inequality than ever before. But now, for the first time in decades, nations facing the brunt of its domination and exploitation have alternative, more tenable options in pursuit of development. Chinese finance is building badly-needed infrastructure where the West would not, Chinese commerce is providing a lifeline to countries the US has targeted for destruction, and Chinese industry is producing new sources of renewable and transition energy at an unparalleled rate. This book addresses:
* China's development and political economy based on independent studies, statistical data, and comparative analysis
* Current geopolitical conflicts and major developments and their relation to China
* Chinese finance and its effect on the rest of the world, particularly Africa.
* China's profound emphasis on environmentalism, renewable energy, and plan for the future
Though it has yet to fully step into this role, the People's Republic of China has become the de facto leader of a future multipolar world.
Why does the world need China? Inter alia:
China is now one of the largest investors in peripheral countries, yet Chinese loans are distinguished from Western loans by having substantially lower interest, being focused on infrastructure construction rather than the extraction of rents, and never being used as political leverage to make its partners adopt harmful "structural adjustment" policies as Western loans are.
From 2000 to 2020, the PRC has helped African countries build 13,000 kilometers of railways and 100,000 kilometers of highways. Chinese-financed development is so ubiquitous on the African continent that any large building or road longer than 3 kilometers are most likely built and engineered by Chinese firms. Most of these have been constructed as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, which began in 2013 and is still making increasing investments throughout the world. Yet according to trade statistics tracked by the World Bank, the value of exports from the Sub-Saharan Africa region to China as a share of the total have not risen since then; instead, the region of the world that has seen the largest increase in export share from SSA has been SSA itself. This means that greater regional connectivity, commerce, and intermediate manufacturing being done in Africa is having the long-term effect of industrializing the continent
