And it basically says what John Smith said in his own work: that China, in some ways, neo-colonized (to a degree) by the West. The idea that China is another imperialist power or that China is at the same level as the West is bunk.
I think they can grow stronger and whether they decide to keep the socialist market economy is up to them, but one thing is for sure: taking a “both sides” approach to geopolitics and the New Cold War between the West and China doesn’t work out; it just means that both sides, both the stronger and weaker side, are treated equally and the stronger side wins.
We need to help spread the truth but also work on the ground when we can and organize for the future.
But also: let’s not spread CIA talking points (or talking points that David Harvey sometimes repeats or Vaush)
I’ll try to find the PDF version for @muad_dibber@lemmygrad.ml and @felipeforte@lemmygrad.ml and @ksynwa@lemmygrad.ml as they, I think, have read John Smith’s work on this particular topic, though it’s a different book entirely published in China (though translated into English) with the ambitious title “Neo-imperialism.”
I plan to brush up on this topic more and maybe read Kwame Nkrumah’s “Neo-colonialism” as well.
In Imperialism in the Twenty First Century from what I can remember the author doesn’t address China being allegedly imperialist because, first of all, it’s a baseless western talking point (actually I have read that the idea of “Chinese debt traps” came from an Indian think tank so maybe we are complicit too) and, second, the book is exclusively about how first world countries (global north in the book) imperialise the third world world countries (global south).
Maybe it’s a different work you’re referring to.
But yeah share the PDF if you can. I’ll try to make an epub out of it.
Good idea! Hold on.