Out Now: LSE IDEAS on PRC Geoeconomic Strategy

As usual, I am somewhat late with the publications generated by our very own LSE IDEAS, but let me rectify that here since there should be something for everyone with an interest in Chinese geopolitics. Drawing upon our own not-insubstantial in-house expertise--our Co-Director Arne Westad is fluent in Mandarin--and our expanding Rolodex of contributors, we have a fine selection here.

Jonathan Fenby should be familiar as an old China hand among journalists, and he puts the question of whether China has a foreign policy at all given how, as I like to repeat, the Communist Party is hardly a monolithic entity given its competing interests. (Witness the downfall of Bo Xilai, for example.) Shaun Breslin over at Warwick University meanwhile is one of the leading British academic scholars studying China from an IPE perspective, and his contribution documents China's worldwide resource grab to fuel its mighty manufacturing machine.

My LSE IDEAS colleague Cherry Yu is particularly interested in how Chinese firms operate abroad. She begins by differentiating between the China Investment Corporation, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and privately-owned firms. Although Westerners typically view all Chinese FDI as somehow being state-directed, this is not always the case and it depends much on the ownership structure of the firm in addition to more traditional factors alike which industries they are in and where they perceive South-South or South-North investment opportunities. Linda Yueh requires no introduction since she appears frequently on Bloomberg, CNBC and so forth. Here she ponders the global economic crisis and whether it has speeded up or slowed economic reform (although you probably can guess the answer to that). Lastly, Guy de Jonquieres is another journalist with consderable knowledge of China-related topics, and he questions the notion of there being a "power shift" altogether.

Once more, the individial PDFs are available from our website, although a print copy will cost you £7.50 to purchase from the university bookstore (including shipping and handling). Happy reading!
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Executive Summary
Nicholas Kitchen, Editor, IDEAS Reports
China’s International Future
Odd Arne Westad
Does China have a Foreign Policy? Domestic Pressures and China’s Strategy
Jonathan Fenby 
Access: China’s Resource Foreign Policy
Shaun Breslin 
China as a Trading Superpower
Xiaojun Li 
Firms with Chinese Characteristics: The Role of Companies in Chinese Foreign Policy
Jie (Cherry) Yu
China’s Strategy towards the Financial Crisis and Economic Reform
Linda Yueh
China’s Approach to US debt and the Eurozone crisis
Nicola Casarini
What Power Shift to China?
Guy de Jonquières