In the western debate about China’s emergence, two contending, contrasting views of China may be heard. One holds that China is a threat to the global polity, ruthlessly pursuing its mercantilist and nationalist agenda. The other holds that China is in transition to market democracy and irrevocably caught in the web of global interdependence. The argument here is that these descriptions of China domestic and external policies are complementary, and not exclusive, but that it is the condition of interdependence with the rest of the world which predominates in the minds and the behaviour of the leadership. That will remain the agenda for decades to come. For the rich powers of the developed world, the choice is between putting up the barriers against China, as the anti-globalisation forces at work in their societies want, or treating China as a pillar of the global system, and agreeing on a gradualist policy of transition to a fully fledged market-democracy.

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Jonathan Story holds the Marusi Chair of Global Business and Political Economy at the Lally School of Management and is a Professor Emeritus of International Political Economy at ISEAD.