Towards a more China-centred global economy? Implications for Chinese power in the age of hybrid threats
An era of hyper globalization is giving way to an age of geoeconomics wherein China seeks a decisive seat at the table.
As China continues to rise, a key question will be whether and to what extent it is able to translate economic prowess into comprehensive national power and global influence. When considering the question of hybrid threats to democratic political systems, China’s role in transforming the global economy raises two broad questions. The first relates to the scope of China’s economic power. To what extent can and will China’s rise transform the global economy in a way that amplifies its power in the age of hybrid threats and undermines liberal democratic institutions and their underlying value systems? The second relates to China’s ambitions with regard to political and social change. To what extent does China seek to undermine liberal democratic institutions and actively export or construct an alternative model?
This paper analyses the rise of a new geoeconomic world order and discusses how economic power is organized and wielded within a context of complex interdependence. It considers how the notion of interdependence has changed from a stabilizing force in international relations into a source of asymmetric power and, conversely, of vulnerability. It describes how a networked global economy produces asymmetric interdependencies that amplify economic power in the hands of states that are able to achieve a degree of network centrality. The paper explores five interrelated actions that China is taking that ultimately increase its network centrality in the global economy today:
- Cultivating resilience through indigenization
- Pursuing high-end import substitution and export promotion (“dual circulation”)
- Establishing hard and soft infrastructure hubs
- Building a narrative and a community framework
- Elaborating upon the relevant tools of economic statecraft
Ultimately, the hybrid threats resulting from China’s increasing economic power can be considered in two different ways: 1) direct, or active threats to liberal democracies stemming from the ability to impress upon or influence key economic infrastructure and actors, and 2) systemic-level threats related to the rules, values and principles on which these systems are built.
This article was published by the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats.
Access the text from the Hybrid CoE website:
Towards a more China-centred global economy? Implications for Chinese power in the age of hybrid threats
Available in:
Regions and themes
ISBN / ISSN
Share
Center for Asian Studies
Asia is a nerve center for multiple global economic, political and security challenges. The Center for Asian Studies provides documented expertise and a platform for discussion on Asian issues to accompany decision makers and explain and contextualize developments in the region for the sake of a larger public dialogue.
The Center's research is organized along two major axes: relations between Asia's major powers and the rest of the world; and internal economic and social dynamics of Asian countries. The Center's research focuses primarily on China, Japan, India, Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific, but also covers Southeast Asia, the Korean peninsula and the Pacific Islands.
The Centre for Asian Studies maintains close institutional links with counterpart research institutes in Europe and Asia, and its researchers regularly carry out fieldwork in the region.
The Center organizes closed-door roundtables, expert-level seminars and a number of public events, including an Annual Conference, that welcome experts from Asia, Europe and the United States. The work of Center’s researchers, as well as that of their partners, is regularly published in the Center’s electronic journal Asie.Visions.
The Oceania Factor in France’s Evolving Indo-Pacific Strategy
This paper examines the two-way relationship between France’s Indo-Pacific strategy and developments in Oceania. Oceania was not a priority in the initial years of France’s Indo-Pacific strategy, as the region was largely treated as secondary to major strategic hotspots and key partnerships, while overseas territories were primarily handled as domestic issues and recipients of a top-down strategy.
France’s View: From Diplomacy to Public-Private Action
France has emerged as the EU’s IMEC forerunner, combining port infrastructure, diplomatic alliances and public-private cooperation. With Marseille Fos at its core, the country brings a strategic hub for logistics, energy and digital connectivity to the corridor.
Trump II, the Crisis of the Rules-Based Order and Europe’s Indo-Pacific Strategy
This article examines the implications of Trump II for Europe’s engagement in the Indo-Pacific. The piece contends that Trump II is accelerating the erosion of the rules-based order and undermining the relevance of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) concept, while forcing Europe to refocus on its own continental security amid US retrenchment. Paradoxically, these very constraints create conditions for a more autonomous, pragmatic, and explicitly interest-driven European engagement in the Indo-Pacific, rather than outright withdrawal.
China and Trade in Critical Raw Materials (CRMs)
Critical raw materials (CRMs) have become central features of a new dynamic in global power politics, with China now wielding considerable leverage. Amid rising regional and global uncertainty, resource security is back in the spotlight as a key determinant of sovereignty and national security for Europe, its allies and its partners. The very survival of key, even vital industries, from automotive to aerospace to health to energy to defense, is at stake.