History, Culture, and Society Workshop presentation by Ho-fung Hung, Johns Hopkins University.

Please email jviator@fas.harvard.edu for the Zoom link.

Abstract:

The recent rivalry between the US and China is more about the shifting balance of economic forces in global capitalism than about ideological differences. Since the 1990s, Wall Street and US TNCs have integrated Chinese firms into their global financial circuits and supply chains. Their lobbying fostered a US-China policy that advanced economic engagement despite the deep, post-1989 ideological rift between the two countries. After about 2010, the China boom faltered. The Chinese state became ever more aggressive in squeezing US and other foreign capital within China’s sphere of influence to facilitate China’s capital export. This unleashed an inter-capitalist competition that underlined the intensifying US-China geopolitical rivalry.