China challenges global capitalism

Abstract

This paper establishes a novel understanding of the nature and implications of China's rise. By borrowing Robert Gilpin's concept of sub-optimisation, it is argued that China is the most prominent player in a non-Western subgroup's suboptimisation strategy, which undermines the Western-dominated neoliberal capitalist system, or the Washington Consensus, and liberal democratic values, taken as gospel by Western economists, governments and industry for the past 30 years. While China and other non-Western states are a part of this system, a consequence of their actions within the system, and particularly in the international energy markets, is that they are increasing their relative gains at the expense of the larger group. China-led subgroup's suboptimisation strategy may result in direct competition between the predominant neoliberal Western paradigm, which is synonymous with globalisation, and which has entered into a structural crisis, and the emerging non-Western economic and political capitalist model.

Abstract

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank Andrew O'Neil, Gerry Groot, James Manicom, Alex Stephens, and Richard Leaver for their feedback on previous drafts

Notes

1. For an overview of the ‘China threat’ issue, see Yee and Storey (2002).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Vlado Vivoda

Vlado Vivoda is Research Fellow at the Centre for International Risk, School of International Studies, University of South Australia, Adelaide. He has written widely on energy security.