Sujian Guo and Baogang Guo, ed. Greater China in an Era of Globalization

Excerpt

Sujian Guo and Baogang Guo’s edited volume is a valuable contribution to the debate on the influences of China’s rise in the world. It not only situates the debate in the context of globalization, it also redraws analytical boundaries by adopting the idea of Greater China. Greater China is defined both ethnically and geographically, including China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao. It implies the ambition that China’s rise will provide an alternative civilization vis-a-vis modern Western civilization rather than simply a new mode of economic development. In the editors’ own words, “the success of the market-oriented economic reform in China will push China to take a lead in the next wave of globalization.” (p.7) The book is organized into two parts: the first part offers theoretical projections of Sino-centric globalization and its influence on the integration of the Greater China (especially on cross-strait relations); and the second part explores China’s regional policies in East Asia, Africa, Latin America, and its ties with Europe and the Caribbean Islands. …