The World Turned Upside Down: America, China, and the Struggle for Global Leadership

by Clyde Prestowitz

Overview

An authority on Asia and globalization identifies the challenges China’s growing power poses and how it must be confronted

"Timely and thought-provoking. . . . An unsparing analysis of how Washington's elite fell into the grip of their China delusion."—James Kynge, Financial Times

"Prestowitz doesn’t just point out problems; he offers a detailed, 25-page 'Plan for America.' An excellent comprehensive study from an expert on the subject."—Kirkus, Starred Review

When China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, most experts expected the WTO rules and procedures to liberalize China and make it “a responsible stakeholder in the liberal world order.” But the experts made the wrong bet. China today is liberalizing neither economically nor politically but, if anything, becoming more authoritarian and mercantilist.
 
In this book, notably free of partisan posturing and inflammatory rhetoric, renowned globalization and Asia expert Clyde Prestowitz describes the key challenges posed by China and the strategies America and the Free World must adopt to meet them. He argues that these must be more sophisticated and more comprehensive than a narrowly targeted trade war. Rather, he urges strategies that the United States and its allies can use unilaterally without contravening international or domestic law.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300248494
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	01/26/2021
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Clyde Prestowitz has worked on Asia and globalization for fifty years and has written several bestselling books on these subjects. He was a leader of the first U.S. trade mission to China in 1982 and is a veteran U.S. trade negotiator and presidential advisor.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I Know The Other

1 Origins of the Chinese Dream 13

2 The Party Is Like God 30

3 The Strategy 60

4 The Threat 91

Part II Know Yourself

5 How America Got Rich 139

6 The False God 159

7 Blind Prophets, Tycoons, and Soothsayers 185

Part III Nothing to Fear From 100 Battles

8 Lay of the Land 217

9 A Long Telegram 237

10 The Plan for China 257

11 The Plan for America 276

Afterword: My Presidential State of the Union Address 291

Notes 295

Acknowledgments 309

Index 313

Editorial Reviews

"Timely and thought-provoking...refreshing... Prestowitz provides an unsparing analysis of how Washington's elite fell into the grip of their China delusion."—James Kynge, Financial Times

"A veteran U.S. trade negotiator offers a cogent overview of how the U.S. grievously misjudged China’s response to globalization. . . . Prestowitz doesn’t just point out problems; he offers a detailed, 25-page 'Plan for America.' An excellent comprehensive study from an expert on the subject."—Kirkus, Starred Review

"Prestowitz is one of America’s most experienced and thoughtful experts on trade policy and its economic impact. . . . To better understand both the challenge posed by China and the thoughts of an influential participant in the debate in Washington, DC, read this book."—Scott Foster, Asia Times

"Another big topic on the global agenda for 2021 will be US-China relations and how they are reset by President Joe Biden. In The World Turned Upside Down, Clyde Prestowitz, leader of the first US trade mission to Beijing, calls for a more sophisticated strategy towards China rather than the narrow trade scraps of recent years."—Financial Times, What To Read in 2021

"Clyde Prestowitz presents the most comprehensive and practical plan yet to meet the Chinese Communist Party’s grave challenge to the United States."—Dennis Blair, former Director of National Intelligence

"In The World Turned Upside Down, Clyde Prestowitz, who led the way in describing how a country like Japan can skew the world trading system, powerfully addresses the biggest problem of all: China. A perfect match of author and subject."—James Mann, author of The China Fantasy

“How did America and other advanced democracies find themselves increasingly beholden to the Chinese Communist Party? Seasoned Asia hand Clyde Prestowitz’ wide-ranging exposé unpacks the long road to this current disturbing reality, while offering a sober and sensible blueprint for pushing back against the PRC’s malign activities in the US and around the world.”—David Shambaugh, author of Where Great Powers Meet: America & China in Southeast Asia

"This book lucidly describes the economic and diplomatic misconceptions that have shaped our China policy. It then lays out many ways that we can act to prevent Chinese hegemony."—Ralph Gomory, President Emeritus, Sloan Foundation, former Chief Scientist, IBM

“Many books have described what China is, where it is going and where it comes from. What makes this book unique is Prestowitz’s detailed prescription for how the US should change to face China.  Every political, academic and business leader who cares about democracy and the free world should read this book and follow its advice. “—Alberto Forchielli, Chairman and CEO of Mandarin Capital

From the Publisher

★ 2020-11-18
A veteran U.S. trade negotiator offers a cogent overview of how the U.S. grievously misjudged China’s response to globalization.

When China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, many observers had high hopes that it would become what former deputy secretary of state Robert Zoellick described as “a responsible stakeholder in the global system.” Indeed, how could the internet allow China to be anything but more liberal and democratic? In a well-rendered, layered narrative, Prestowitz carefully examines the naïve expectations by U.S. and other Western leaders going back to the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989—a clear red flag that was swiftly ignored in the rush to do business with the authoritarian state. As a labor, trade, and commerce expert, the author deftly sifts through the evidence over the decades to record how China systematically rejected attempts by liberal leaders to manipulate it for their profit. Meanwhile, in less than a decade after 2001, the Chinese managed to quadruple GDP via policies that “protected and subsidized investment aimed at developing indigenous capacity in industries characterized by economies of scale and rapid technological advances in the context of potentially large export markets.” Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore had deployed similar strategies, all of which defied the “expectations of Anglo-American economists, journalist, and trade officials.” China was clearly not going to become a responsible “stakeholder.” Under President Xi Jinping, writes Prestowitz, “China seems to be determined to resurrect the old Middle Kingdom as the new world hegemon.” The Chinese leadership grasps their importance in the complex game of global trade, and they are working hard on the highly ambitious One Belt One Road project. Most alarming, notes the author, is the infiltration of the Communist Party into every aspect of Chinese life. Prestowitz doesn’t just point out problems; he offers a detailed, 25-page “Plan for America.”

An excellent comprehensive study from an expert on the subject.

Kirkus Reviews