Neoliberalism ‘with Chinese Characteristics’

shoe is liable to drop, because the only way the Chinese can a

fford

this is by piling up balance of payments surpluses against the US.

A peculiar symbiosis emerges, in which China, along with Japan,

Taiwan, and other Asian central banks, fund the US debt so that

the US can conveniently consume their surplus output. But this

renders the US vulnerable to the whims of Asian central bankers.

Conversely, Chinese economic dynamism is held hostage to US

fiscal and monetary policy. The US is also currently behaving in a

Keynesian fashion –– running up enormous federal de

ficits and

consumer debt while insisting that everyone else must obey neolib-

eral rules. This is not a sustainable position, and there are now

many in

fluential voices in the US suggesting that it is steering

right into the hurricane of a major 

financial crisis.

43

 For China, this

would entail switching from a politics of labour absorption to a

politics of overt repression. Whether or not such a tactic can suc-

ceed, as it did in Tiananmen Square in 1989, will depend crucially

upon the balance of class forces and how the Communist Party

positions itself in relation to those forces.

44

tải về 190.05 Kb.

Chia sẻ với bạn bè của bạn: