China in Global Capitalism: Building International Solidarity Against Imperial Rivalry

by Kevin Lin

As the rivalry between the US and China enters a dangerous new phase, reaffirming the politics of anti-imperialism is a task more important than ever.

From trade wars and pandemic politics to rioting workers, intercontinental balloons, and battles over TikTok, the US media tends to present contemporary China—when it’s discussed at all—in sensationalist terms. This portrayal has only intensified as China’s relationship with the United States has grown increasingly hostile. Whether in the form of overtly racist rhetoric and aggressive trade actions, or the more buttoned down but equally antagonistic efforts to oppose Chinese interests abroad, the US has made clear that it has no interest in giving up its position as global hegemon. This seemingly endless cycle of nationalism, jingoism, and reactionary politics on both sides of the Pacific suggests a downward spiral that could plausibly result in catastrophic military confrontation.

Against Imperialism forcefully makes the case that workers and socially marginalized people in both the US and China must oppose our rulers’ claims that they have our best interests in mind as they ratchet up their rivalry. Rather, if we’re to avert nuclear calamity, we must oppose imperialism in all its forms, and regardless of its source and rhetoric.

Through snapshots of China’s growing social movements—from its labor struggles to feminist campaigns, and more—Lin, Liu, Friedman, and Smith provide some of the building blocks we’ll need to construct a movement that centers international solidarity across borders.

Genres: China, Politics, Economics, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

Published June 11, 2024

Reviews

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helped me answer numerous questions that I’ve been thinking about intimately for the last few years, especially as someone who is Chinese American and is very anti US state but also knows many Chinese people who are very anti China. The audience is mainly for Western leftists to be able to make sense of US and Chinese Imperialism and how we must be against global capitalism and imperialism everywhere. The authors argue for neither a Washington nor Beijing approach but rather a framework in solidarity with workers and oppressed peoples worldwide called internationalism from below. I’d recommend for anyone interested in learning more about the largest geopolitical rivalry of the last few decades. It is a rather concise and easy to digest read which I really appreciated as well. The end also has super fascinating resources that I will be taking a deeper dive into.

The authors also had a super interesting conversation on the Haymarket YouTube channel that I’d recommend watching to see if you’re interested in reading the full book.

[juch]

Very clear and concise re: how China is capitalist, and that a multipolar world order where two empires are competing over access to markets and resources to exploit is not a good thing… specific takeaways are that I learned more about SOEs, and that the gap between the US and China’s levels of militarization is still so big though the way that it’s closing is sad and concerning. I think I will read the shock doctrine soon bc I do want to understand more about dollar diplomacy and national debts

The chapter on what international solidarity building could look like seemed kinda fluffy, but it was inspiring to feel challenged to bring this geopolitical analysis into Chinese immigrant basebuilding though I wonder about the focus on international students? Maybe the idea of student organizing feels deflating rn but I guess everything does? I think I will read Gramsci soon too. Curious what would happen if organizations intentionally brought Chinese international students into broader Chinese/Asian immigrant organizing (stop Asian hate was not an inspiring example)

I’m happy that neither I nor this book thought that much about bad social media posts, the stakes are much higher than that!

[peebee · Rating 4 out of 5]

super clarifying explainer of current political struggles, class relations and social conditions in China today.

first 4-5 chapters each deal with a different aspect of these dynamics and clearly delineates China's role in the global capitalist system - e.g. 'china is capitalist' (chapter 1), 'feminist resistance and the crisis of social reproduction' (chapter 4), 'china's national questions' (chapter 5 - explains the CCP's racist, nationalist policies of control and repression in the 'frontier' regions of Xinjiang and Tibet, and also discusses [attempted] CCP domination in HK and Taiwan). the authors then discuss the US-China imperial rivalry, its role in undermining a collaborative global response to the COVID pandemic (resulting in the death of + disabling of untold millions). worth reading this book just for the very lucid links drawn by the authors between the struggles of the US and Chinese working class and poor, and the many examples given of China-US collaboration to ensure the continuous flow of capital across borders, even as imperial brinksmanship between the two countries has intensified in recent years.

the last chapter offers some strategies re how radicalised diasporic chinese populations around the world but especially in the US can help in the struggle to dismantle capitalism. found this last chapter somewhat wishy washy - it seemed the authors' main ideas centred around 1) increasing chinese diasporic participation in unions (in particular, grad students........lol) and 2) supporting niche left wing journals and publications in the diaspora to build an international left. it's not that i'm against of these things - rather the opposite - but i'm not exactly sure how they, even in combination, could be sufficient to make working class people in either the US or China realise they are being exploited and pitted against each other. that said, the book's objectives are fairly narrow - to provide 'snapshots of china's growing social movements' and 'building blocks' for the construction of international solidarity across borders - and otherwise paints a very convincing portrait of China as a highly repressive state with imperialist ambitions, and which seeks to unseat the US within the global capitalist order through initiative likes Belt & Road (which, as the authors explain, is really just an outlet for surplus capital & opportunity for profit making). China under the CCP is not a socialist alternative to the capitalist hellscape but rather an integral component of it.

[Mona · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book presents a clear and well-argued thesis situating china in the same position as the US- an aspiring hegemony of global capitalism, driven almost entirely by profit maximization, worker exploitation, and imperialist projects. though this is pretty obvious in theory, the book skillfully and coherently weaves together analyses and examples through an unwavering internationalist leftist lens.

it definitely dragged at times and felt a bit repetitive, but overall it was interesting and informative.

[alexanderalava · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took a couple classes with Eli Friedman at Cornell (Work, Labor, & Capital and The Asian Century: The Rise of China & India) and was always interested in his background and field of study, given that he was within the school of labor relations with the focus of his work primarily being on China. What was most interesting to me was how he came from a genuine left-wing perspective yet simultaneously was very critical of China, a country which tends to be an ideological enigma amongst Western, especially American, leftists. He had found a clarity which I lacked and sought. I would occasionally try to speak with him but he seemed to be busy and without much time for elaborate discussion. To be fair, I probably wasn’t the most prepared for elaborate discussion at the time either.

Recently when I was in China, a friend of mine (a Chinese student) asked me for reading recommendations regarding critical perspectives on China from the United States, seeking to broaden his view. I thought carefully for a moment, explaining how I worried that the average criticisms of China levied from the United States would be made in bad-faith or in the interest of malicious ideology. This is when I suddenly thought back to professor Friedman and his work! Having taken classes with him I understood and respected the ideological background from which he approached his work and trusted that he operated in good faith out of interest for working people internationally. I shared his details and some of his publications with my friend, but simultaneously realized (and addressed) my own shortcoming: I hadn’t read any of them!

Thus, I set out to actually read Friedman’s work, to understand his (and his co-author’s & peers) perspectives, and hopefully to speak with him personally regarding his work when I get the chance to head back up to Cornell (Homecoming 2025?!). This is especially important to me nowadays as well, as having returned from a month in China and having engaged thoroughly with many students I’m grappling with questions about how to understand the state, nation, and societal context, from a perspective of someone seeking to ultimately confront the exploitation of working people and fight against it.

So then, the actual review:

As a whole, I thought the book was an effective effort at concisely and directly outlining China’s role within global capitalism and the role of the Chinese state in enforcing capitalism throughout Chinese society domestically. It felt like a ‘crash course’ in the assorted ways in which the ‘free market reform’ beginning in the 80s has penetrated nearly every aspect of China down from basic social services to upper party membership, and successfully levied varied criticisms on the Chinese government based on internationalist leftist perspectives. I thought it was overall a good reading experience and was well structured; I never felt bogged down nor suffocated by the contents. At the end of this review I’ll drop some notes I highlighted from the book and thought were particularly noteworthy.

However, I found that throughout the book my underlying questions and concerns were never truly and definitively answered regarding the place of the Chinese nation in international labor struggles. I understood the criticisms and agreed with the values being upheld behind them, but I never felt truly convinced by the suggested modus operandi of grassroots internationalist organizing in the context of greater realpolitik. Especially having recently read other materials on Chinese political and philosophical perspectives, I was never able to really shake off existing reservations about the outright condemnation of the Chinese state. I have been trying to read as much as I can to refine my perspectives as much as possible, and while the book succeeds in giving an informed angle on the matter it failed in convincing me thoroughly of its position. It was great at outlining issues but felt lacking in suggesting comprehensive and convincing answers.

My problem was essentially that the solutions proposed by the book felt a little too optimistic and without sufficient elaboration or grounding in the face of the political and material realities of the United States, China, and the rest of the globe. I think that fundamentally I was unable to shake the impression that I have so consistently gotten from other Chinese perspectives, which was the perspective that China as a nation is engaged in a struggle for its own existence against an international American hegemony which seeks to bring it under control. Every vulnerability within China is seems to be seen by the Chinese state as an opportunity for the United States to exploit, and thus requires absolute attention and control. I think back to Mao who, even back when he was leading China, looked at events such as the Hungarian revolution of 1956 as a learning opportunity for the threat of “color revolution” and constantly urged the importance of constant guarding against both internal and external “counterrevolutionary efforts” which spring up at the slightest opportunity.

There is certainly plenty to dislike about this line of thinking: overzealous focus on national integrity results in innocent people getting caught in crossfires, and genuine concerns getting unjustly crushed by violent state suppression. This seems to be Friedman’s greatest gripe with China in tandem with its capitalist alignment, and one which I completely understand.

The ISSUE, is that I find it hard (at least personally in this moment in history) to actually DEFINITIVELY DENOUNCE such a perspective. The Century of Humiliation weighs on the Chinese psyche. The historical collapse of the Soviet Union in the 20th century and the rapid deterioration it underwent into the present Russian Federation presents a case study in trickles of national instability and foreign influence resulting in a total collapse of the existing system and victory of Western hegemony. The destruction of countless smaller states which worked towards assorted degrees of national liberation, working class liberation, and progressive politics by American influence either hard or soft. The global isolation levied on others which, while they were able to resist outright collapse from American pressure, are unable to materially stand up to economic and social embargo. These elaborate network of American military infrastructure, troops, and weaponry which surround China and sit at the ready within its own immediate sphere of influence.

These all weigh into feelings of insecurity for the Chinese state and result in the authoritarian consequences which Friedman is accurately identifying and critiquing.

But what is the genuinely pragmatic alternative? When criticisms are levied on Chinese handling of Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and so forth, I completely understand and agree with them. It would be hypocritical not to recognize the problems here. But my concern is, how do you enable genuine liberation without inviting American imperialism and advancing its objectives? How do you prevent any such movement from becoming co opted by Western efforts at containing China and transformed into a weapon turned against it? How does one find sovereignty from the Chinese state without becoming a new American military base in short time? I ask these as genuine questions and not rhetorical ones. I struggle to answer that question and the book didn’t provide me with a convincing response.

It mentions, for example, the way in which Hong Kong protestors appealed to and aligned themselves with the United States to achieve their own political objectives. It recognizes the issue, and offers the truth that really the movement just wants freedoms and its alignment with the United States is an unfortunate side effect of the greater struggle between the US and China. It essentially suggests a third way between the two “great powers.” I simply am unsure about whether a “third way” of this kind, in the face of such immense reach and power from the two states, is actually realistically possible for achieving the long-term and gargantuan political objectives of intersectional liberation. I struggle to be convinced of a potential path to overcoming such immense state power which isn’t forced to compromise at times on ideological values, not because I lack faith in such values but rather because we sit atop a mountain of bones of prior movements crushed by the simple realities of power. How do we prevent ourselves from joining it? In today’s world where all forms of power seem to be amplified tenfold by technology, a more sober approach seems all the more pertinent.

Surely, the collapse of the Chinese state and opening of the floodgates to Western capitalism and American hegemony would be magnitudes worse for the Chinese people (and the global south at large) than the current situation.

I understand of course that this is not the suggestion of the book; Friedman wants a China which is actually oriented around its alleged ideology. This is completely understandable, respectable, and admirable. But in the current geopolitical context, how do you prevent one thing from becoming the other?

The book does in a way address this and I give credit to it for that. It references the notion of the ‘enemy at home’ and believes that efforts for working class liberation within the United States must first and foremost be focused on the United States. I see this as a concession to the above point and ‘sobering’ of the conclusion. But my reservations still hold.

I do hope that if I get the opportunity to speak with professor Friedman I can seek deeper understanding of the points put forth by the book and find resistance to my reservations. He has much much much more experience on the matter than I do and I recognize that completely. I also hope that as I continue reading different books on the matter I can better understand the full picture and come to effective solutions.

Also, some minor (MINOR, but figured I would mention) notes on formatting: there was the occasionally repetitive written passage (just repeated something which was already mentioned prior), and there were 2 outright typos which I came across (page 101 first paragraph, “to name a fsew”, the second one I forgot but remember noting).

Overall I’d give a 3.5. I want to give a 4 because I would indeed recommend this book to anyone with seeking leftist perspectives on China in the 21st century and I trust Friedman’s values, but simultaneously I just didn’t feel convinced by the book’s conclusions, bringing it closer to a 3.

Assorted notes below:

[WIP]

[cs552 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be an incredibly fascinating and eloquent explanation of China’s existence in the world order. My biggest drawing point to this book was the fact that some of its authors grew up and organized in China, so it was much more of a first hand account, rather than straight propaganda. I HIGHLY recommend to anyone wishing to understand China from the perspective of a Chinese person.

Big thank you to Philly DSA and Making Worlds bookstore for providing me a free copy of this great book.

[Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's too much left out of the analytical framework (like the concept of a third world & the idea of development) to take this book too seriously. It's easier to just define a state as "capitalist" and then write your whole book through deductive reasoning, rather than actually tracing an analysis of 'China in Global Capitalism', which would mean getting into specific internal & external dynamics of Chinese political economy (which this book is not equipped to do).