The Rise of China in the Global South: The Middle East, Africa, and Beijing’s Alternative World Order
go through Dawn C. Murphy
Stanford University Press, 2022
Geopolitical tensions between the United States and China often arise in the context of competition in the Pacific. Dawn Murphy provides a refreshing analysis of this conversation by focusing on China’s efforts in Africa and the Middle East. She convincingly argues that in these regions, China is establishing spheres of influence, increasingly competing with the United States and the West, and challenging the rules of the liberal international order (p. 8). Beijing aims to establish an alternative order that could one day replace the United States as a superpower. Murphy provides a useful framework for conceptualizing Chinese efforts as cooperative or competitive categories of political, economic, and military actions relative to U.S. efforts, and whether these efforts converge with or diverge from the norms of the liberal international order (p. 9) .
exist The rise of China in the Southern HemisphereMurphy sheds light on issues that are increasingly relevant and discussed in academic and policy circles. Rush Doshi and Ketian Chang paid equal attention to China’s efforts and global ambitions. Dorsey provides a broad perspective on China’s ambitions, while Zhang provides an in-depth understanding of specific foreign policy tools, and Murphy’s contribution to this discussion provides insights into China’s diplomacy in two important regions: Africa and the Middle East. A middle-ground comparison of policy efforts.
Murphy’s book is an excellent introduction to China’s broad political, economic, and military efforts in two areas of interest. Each topic could be a book in itself, but the numerous yet substantive research questions Murphy explores make readers understand complex topics in a simple yet informative style. Each chapter is easy to follow and covers the topics studied in each of her focus areas. Murphy draws comparisons by assessing the geopolitical competition between China and the United States in each region. The Middle East is of course a region in which China and the United States share common strategic interests; Africa is an area of interest to China, but is not usually a U.S. policy focus. Her account provides nuance for understanding Beijing’s avoidance of the term “One Belt, One Road.” revisionism This is often overused in policy analysis. Instead, her work presents a gradual displacement over time, focusing on an important period of China’s development and influence from 1991 to 2019.
Analysis of two regions requires significant time and financial resources, which is often not feasible for academics. Murphy’s lack of field work in Africa is therefore particularly striking, as it is limited to South Africa. To be fair, if we must choose one country, the strategic relationship between South Africa and China has deep historical, political and economic ties and is worth studying. While more fieldwork is often beneficial, she compensates for these limitations through interviews and analysis of official documents. Particularly rewarding is her use of first-hand Chinese sources to amplify her narrative. Although her work is primarily qualitative, it is easy and useful to incorporate multiple methods into her research. For example, Murphy provides data on China’s arms sales to various countries, but there is no analysis to highlight useful trends other than providing total value over time (page 227). Arms transfers are a particularly important foreign policy tool, in large part because Beijing does not attach conditions to arms transfers like many Western countries. Additionally, it would be instructive to examine the topic of sovereign debt. China’s Belt and Road Initiative is an important policy tool that has placed a huge debt burden on the country, but the impact of this concern has not been fully discussed. Much ink has been written on the debate over “debt trap diplomacy,” a discussion she has largely avoided altogether.
One of the findings of this book is that China’s foreign policy efforts in the Middle East and Africa are competitive in its economic and political actions, while Beijing’s military efforts are primarily cooperative. At the risk of painting a more dire picture, she may have exaggerated the cooperative aspects of China’s military efforts. Two military efforts highlighted by Murphy were United Nations peacekeeping operations and China’s support for anti-piracy operations. A closer look at China’s incentives and involvement in these efforts reveals that Beijing’s actions are actually less cooperative than portrayed and more competitive. For example, China’s anti-piracy operations in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are not conducted as part of the efforts of multiple countries in the region; instead, China chooses to operate independently (p. 229). Even more telling is China’s support for UN peacekeeping efforts. Beijing’s military strategy (2020), as an official military strategy and planning document, clarifies two noteworthy goals for China’s participation in UN peacekeeping operations. The first is to improve bilateral relations with garrison countries, and the second is to create good overseas investments for the future. In the government’s own written words, Beijing views the use of U.N. forces as a means to improve bilateral relations and strengthen interests. As Murphy points out, China’s location at the United Nations reflects concerns about the potential impact on its own economic security (p. 221). Taking into account the above factors, one can correctly interpret China’s military actions as competitive rather than cooperative as Murphy believes.
Despite its shortcomings in assessing China’s military efforts, Murphy’s work makes an important and refreshing contribution to the literature charting China’s global ambitions in two geopolitically sensitive regions. For her contribution to avoiding a common Pacific- and Eurocentric approach to studying competition between the United States and China The rise of China in the Southern Hemisphere Fills the gap in the existing literature. Furthermore, this book will help policymakers and academics understand the context in which this competition will dominate their work for the foreseeable future.
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