The Chinese Way
Understanding China and comparing China, US, and EU foreign policies for a shared future
Book AnnouncementIMAGE: COVER FOR "THE CHINESE WAY – OVERCOMING CHALLENGES FOR A SHARED FUTURE" view more
CREDIT: WORLD SCIENTIFIC
Today, we simply cannot afford to repeat the classic historical scenario of conflict between a rising and a declining power, which might prove catastrophic for the entire planet. Yet, at a strategic level, since the beginning of the 2000s and particularly in 2016 — in conjunction with China’s rise as an international economic and political power — the US has adopted an increasingly aggressive Cold War-like posture.
It is more urgent than ever before that everyone deepens their knowledge of the Chinese political system, which is regularly portrayed as being authoritarian, rigid, undemocratic, and so on. If this was true, one wonders how such a closed and authoritarian system, if one were to believe the Western narrative, has managed to obtain the highest level of government satisfaction in the world, according to several American polls; to sign agreements of all kinds in different contexts without ever resorting to military force; to contribute in recent years to 30 per cent of the world’s growth; and, last but not least, to inspire the idea of the Beijing Consensus as an alternative to the Washington Consensus. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), for example, is engendering various emulations around the world, given its concreteness and reasonableness centred on the need to increase geographic interconnectedness as a recipe for peaceful development and cooperation between peoples, with respect for the sovereignty and autonomy of states.
This book aims to communicate to readers in a clear, fluent, and well-documented fashion, the new role that China plays in the geography of world power, evaluating its weight, influence, and impact on future developments. China's ambition and its vision of international affairs can be summed up in Beijing's desire to "build a community of common destiny for mankind". "Those who deal with China understand the West's gaze on the People's Republic has often been dismissive, superficial and distorted. A sort of festival of stereotyped opinions, with value judgments constantly used to highlight the West's alleged superiority vis-à-vis the 'Chinese model'.
Here, an extract from chapter 6 summarizes what the public seldom read about our changing world and China's contribution to a peaceful new world order. This book provides a window for understanding what is often omitted.
"Just as the world was starting to see the light, after two years of pandemic, the Russia–Ukraine conflict once again plunged it into the darkness of a polycrisis that is at once geopolitical, economic and climatic. As economic and cultural walls between countries are raised in the name of a New Cold War, we are once again reminded of the fact that there is no way of achieving global peace other than to commit ourselves every day to building the unity of the human race, by respecting the diversity of all peoples. In this regard, the People’s Republic of China seems to provide us with a unique and effective approach to building peace, through the stabilisation of international relations, the rejection of the New Cold War logic of power blocs and the promotion of multilateralism, dialogue and cooperation. These are the pillars of Beijing’s foreign policy. China, with the extension of New Silk Roads to more than 140 countries, has become the main promoter of inclusive globalisation and the world’s largest economic hub without resorting to military expansionism, wars of invasion, “power bloc” strategies or attempting to impose its own model upon others. Peace is built through cultural exchanges, dialogue and trade".
Contributions by Dr. Shaun Rein (Founding and Managing Director of the China Market Research Group) and Prof. Michael Dunford (Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research) are included. Both experts live in China and are highly recognized for their grasp on Chinese affairs, economic-business and economic-political geography issues.
The Chinese Way is relevant for scholars and practitioners involved in Sinology, economic and political geography, and international relations. General readers will also benefit from the useful insights into China’s role within the global political system.
The Chinese Way – Overcoming Challenges for a Shared Future retails for US$48 / £40 (hardcover) and is also available in electronic formats. To order or know more about the book, visit http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/13230.
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About the Author
Fabio Massimo Parenti Ph.D. (Geopolitics and Geo-economics) is a Foreign Associate Professor of International Studies (IRs, IPE, Geopolitics) at China Foreign Affairs University, Beijing, and Professor at the Italian International Institute Lorenzo de 'Medici-Marist College, Firenze. He teaches Global Financial Markets, China's Development and Global Shift, Globalization and Social Change, and War and Media. He has taught in Mexico, the US and Morocco. He is a member of EURISPES-BRICS Laboratory, Roma; scientific advisor at Diplomatic International Institute (IDI), Roma, and Earth Charter China think tank, UN. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of international academic journals (Area Development and Policy and The Journal of Economic Science: Theory and Practice). He also collaborates with national and international media.
About World Scientific Publishing Co.
http://www.worldscientific.com/World Scientific Publishing is a leading international independent publisher of books and journals for the scholarly, research and professional communities. World Scientific collaborates with prestigious organisations like the Nobel Foundation and US National Academies Press to bring high quality academic and professional content to researchers and academics worldwide. The company publishes about 600 books and over 170 journals in various fields annually. To find out more about World Scientific, please visit www.worldscientific.com.
For more information, contact WSPC Communications at communications@wspc.com.
DOI
Waking up to Asian economic miracles
IMAGE: AS ANGLO-AMERICAN FIRMS 'DISCOVER' STAKEHOLDER CAPITALISM, NEW RESEARCH BY SMU PROFESSOR DAN W. PUCHNIAK REVEALS THAT CORPORATE PURPOSE HAS LONG BEEN INTEGRAL TO SUCCESSFUL ASIAN ECONOMIES. view more
CREDIT: SINGAPORE MANAGEMENT UNIVERSITY
By Alistair Jones
SMU Office of Research – American economist Milton Friedman cast a long shadow with his 1970 article, 'A Friedman Doctrine: The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits'. For decades, it became a touchstone for free-market economies, interpreted as the sole purpose of a firm was to make money for its shareholders.
But there's an alternative dynamic, an awareness that companies also have a responsibility to stakeholders – such as employees, customers, suppliers, communities and government. This stakeholder capitalism has a corporate purpose beyond profit maximisation, aiming to deliver long-term value and better outcomes for people and the planet, while also being profitable.
During the past few years, stakeholder capitalism has moved from the progressive edges into the mainstream of Anglo-American business, championed at a global corporation level, including at the 2020 World Economic Forum at Davos.
“Viewed through an Anglo-American lens, corporate governance around the world is living a woke moment,” writes Dan W. Puchniak – a Professor of Law at Singapore Management University (SMU) – in a new paper, 'No Need for Asia to be Woke: Contextualising Anglo-America’s ‘Discovery’ of Corporate Purpose'.
Professor Puchniak's article has won the 2023 European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) Working Paper Prize for Law, generally considered the top annual prize in the world for corporate law scholarship. He is the first person based at an Asian university to be awarded the honour in the prize's 18-year history.
Late to awake
It is apt that Professor Puchniak is Asia-based because his paper demonstrates that long before Anglo-America’s recent 'discovery' of corporate purpose, Asia was already awake to it, and it has been integral to its most important and dynamic economies, such as China, Japan, India and Singapore.
So, what has prompted this new Anglo-American enthusiasm?
“I think that Anglo-America's discovery of corporate purpose, at least until my paper, was because of a rise in social activism around climate change; because of a rise of the environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) movement, which has a longer history, but has really come to the fore in the past several years; and because of an increasing gap between rich and poor, which has caused an increased focus on how employees are protected in companies,” Professor Puchniak says.
“And these are all domestic issues in the US, and in the UK, which have forced this reconsideration of how companies should behave in societies, or the role that companies should play in societies.”
But how can we understand an apparent Anglo-American blindness to the economic successes in Asia?
“Throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s, America was clearly the sole economic superpower in the world. Because of that, I think that from a corporate law perspective, there was an extremely strong focus on what the US was doing and the approach that the US was taking,” Professor Puchniak says.
The US became the model to emulate, along with corporate governance trends set by the UK.
“London and New York traditionally have been seen as the most important financial centres in the world. However, we know this has changed and it has changed dramatically,” Professor Puchniak says.
Need for reform
Asian economic miracles have not been without negative aspects. As an example, Professor Puchniak cites Japan's job-for-life employment system.
“Generally, lifetime employment had been limited to male employees because women were seen to play a predominant role in Japanese families, and therefore, when they started a family, they would leave the workforce and then come back as part-time employees,” he says.
Japan's workforce has been losing out by undervaluing Japanese women, who tend to be extremely well-educated. Another downside of lifetime employment is that it deters a liquid labour market. And Japanese boards have been dominated by lifetime employees, largely excluding independent directors.
“Traditionally, shareholders have not had much say or influence on how big Japanese companies were managed because lifetime employees generally voted the shares that were held in something called kabushiki mochiai, which is cross shareholding. And basically, lifetime employees had all of the power and shareholders did not,” Professor Puchniak says.
Japan is still an economic powerhouse but it has stagnated during recent decades.
“What has gone on in Japan is that this push towards corporate purpose around the world has allowed the Japanese government to say, 'we're going to stick with our traditional stakeholder approach', and not make many of the necessary changes to integrate a more shareholder-friendly approach,” Professor Puchniak says.
“Why? Because [they] can now say, 'we're following this global corporate purpose movement', and so it provides them with cover to resist hard reforms that need to take place if Japan wants to maintain competitiveness in the global economy.”
In his paper, Professor Puchniak also looks at issues facing China, India and Singapore, and likely responses to the corporate purpose movement. He is most optimistic about Singapore where GDP per person is double Japan’s and significantly higher than every G7 country.
Context matters
“Singapore has been great at being very cognisant of what the global trends are, but then thinking about them and applying them in a very thoughtful, pragmatic and efficient way to Singapore's unique situation,” Professor Puchniak says. For example, it has done “a very good job of embracing the sustainability movement, especially with respect to climate”.
“If you read the company's act in Singapore and you read the corporate governance code, you will see that traditionally the focus has been on long-term shareholder value. But, in fact, what is at the core of Singapore’s unique system of corporate governance in practice is still family firms and government linked companies (GLCs) when we look at who has the shareholder power in listed companies.”
“Singapore has also done something very innovative in terms of global shareholder stewardship by creating a code of stewardship for family companies. Family companies are extremely important in Singapore and in Asia, and Singapore has been a leader in this approach.”
It will be the family firms and GLCs that define the purpose that corporations play within Singapore.
“And that purpose, arguably since 1965, and especially since the 1970s, has been not just to make as much money as possible, but to make that money in a way that benefits Singapore and Singaporeans as a whole.”
“And I think that Singapore in this way has always been taking a purposeful view of companies. [It] can latch on to or build on this trend and can maybe be a leader in Asia for defining corporate purpose in a way that is more relevant for the region.”
Professor Puchniak believes outcomes should be the focus of good corporate governance and purpose, not prescribed methods or universal models.
“The point of the [paper] and my research is not to say that stakeholder capitalism is always right or good for every country. It is also not saying that shareholder capitalism is good for every country. What it is saying is that different countries have different systems and they must adapt those systems over time to tackle the important problems in their unique societies,” he says.
“In every country there is a need to balance the idea of stakeholders and shareholders.”
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