Dr Sudhirendar SharmaThe days of ‘Washington Consensus’ are seemingly over, as the world drifts towards what is now being called the ‘Beijing Consensus’. China’s trade with the world had touched an all time high of US $2.97 trillion in 2010; between 2005 and 2012 Chinese companies invested US$ 460 billion across the globe; and China is biggest global lender (ahead of the World Bank) with a credit portfolio of US$110 billion. All of this occurred when the western world was reeling under severe economic recession.
So overwhelmed it is with a likely world leadership status that Beijing didn’t think twice before refusing White House offer of creating a G-2, a Washington-Beijing axis to take the lead in world affairs. To unveil this somewhat mysterious spread of Chinese influence across the world, two-China based journalists flew across 235,000 kilometers; travelled 15,000 kilometers on dangerous roads; and crossed eleven land borders to bring the chilling and largely unknown reality of globalization. From Myanmar to Sudan and from Kazakhstan to Venezuela, around 35 million citizens of Chinese ethnicity have fanned across the world to not only make a future for them but keep the Chinese economy in perpetual motion.
For it to maintain social stability, China needs to achieve at least 8 per cent annual growth, and therefore a constant supply of raw materials is needed to keep the ‘factory of the world’ and its ‘rapid urbanization’ from stagnating. With the help of its silent army of millions spread across the globe, the authors reveal, the Chinese development juggernaut is ruthlessly violating political, economic and environment norms in the countries where it is making huge investments for appropriating raw materials of all kind. With a troubled track record in human rights violation, the emerging world order under China sends shivers down the spine. Behind the glitzy world of economic growth is the Chinese model of growth masked by secrecy and censorship.
Not only is it a work of immense courage, China’s Silent Army is an amazing book that brings out the disturbing side of China’s growing global influence. A must read book!….Link
China’s Silent Army
by Juan Pablo Cardenal & Heriberto Araujo
Allen Lane, UK
349 pages, £25.
