[New Release] The Fall of the Chinese Dream... 'A Provocative Book Targeting China'

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Young-joo] The book title itself is provocative. . Haven't we witnessed China’s rise as a major power alongside the United States, the so-called G2? The subtitle, , is even more shocking. There has never been a book in Korea that viewed the Chinese Dream (中國夢) so negatively. It makes one curious about what the author intends to convey in this book.

The Chinese Dream is a blueprint put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping. It sets the symbolic deadline of the "Two Centenaries" and proclaims the rise of China. The first phase is to build a "Xiaokang (小康) society" that solves the people's basic needs by 2021, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. The second phase is a national plan to complete a modern socialist society in harmony by 2049, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Around that time, the ambitious plan is to surpass the United States and become the world's sole hegemon.

America’s ‘Killing China’

The question begins with, "Will the hegemon America just watch China?" After the collapse of the Soviet Union and Japan’s economic stagnation, the term "G2" referring to the United States and China as two great powers was popular for a while. The core of the Chinese Dream is "Beyond G2 to G1," but this book asserts that "G1 is out of the question, and even G2 itself was an illusion." While Chinese government-affiliated scholars openly promoted optimistic prospects like "G2" and "new type of major power relations," the United States began to see China as a "national threat that can no longer be ignored."

This book particularly predicts that China will follow the same path as the Soviet Union’s collapse and Japan’s "Lost 20 Years" due to American retaliation. The U.S. established diplomatic relations with China and guided it into the free trade order to check the Soviet Union, but now that China has turned its blade toward the U.S., America has launched a campaign to "kill China." This diagnosis perfectly matches the recent situation where U.S.-China conflicts are intensifying and the U.S. government’s pressure is being applied on all fronts.

The Great Wall Built on Debt

The bubble in the Chinese economy has been pointed out by numerous experts. The book describes the Chinese economy as "all show and no substance." Along with issues such as slowing growth, foreign exchange reserves more precarious than statistics suggest, and a real estate bubble, the book views the global economic contraction caused by the China-originated COVID-19 pandemic as accelerating the collapse of the Chinese economy. It especially focuses on China’s traditional Achilles’ heels: food and energy. It identifies rural migrant workers ("nongmingong (農民工)"), who are urban poor from rural areas, and retired military personnel as potential sparks threatening the regime.

China experienced two Tiananmen (天安門) incidents in 1976 and 1989, and last year’s Hong Kong protests triggered by the "Umbrella Movement" have escalated further this year with the "Extradition Law" and "National Security Law," deepening the Chinese Communist Party’s concerns. The book emphasizes that if protests or riots occur in major cities like Beijing or Shanghai and the Chinese government suppresses them with tanks and guns as it did during Tiananmen, no one can guarantee what unexpected outcomes might arise. Furthermore, it predicts that China, composed of multiple ethnic groups, will face demands for regional autonomy and independence, and realistically, there is no way to cope with these challenges.

The book also points out that at the root of all crises lie the Communist Party’s corruption and factional conflicts, and that neighboring countries are branding China as a "bad neighbor."

Korea: Opportunity or Crisis?

If the Chinese Dream ends up merely a "dream," or if such a process proceeds rapidly, will it be a crisis or an opportunity for Korea? This is where the author truly wants to make his point.

Kim Sung-hwan, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Chairman of the East Asia Foundation), wrote in his recommendation, "This book clearly presents, from a journalist’s perspective, how we should respond amid the increasingly intense U.S.-China hegemonic competition."

Cheon Young-woo, former Senior Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Security at the Blue House (Chairman of the Korea Future Forum), recommended the book, saying, "It is a valuable guide to understanding China as it is, not as we want to see it, and to balancing biased discourse about China."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.