ECIPE Seminar: From Wealth to Power – China’s New Economic Statecraft and Its Strategic Implications

President Xi is practicing an ambitious agenda of economic statecraft, the core of which is, arguably, to achieve the great rejuvenation of China into her “natural” historical role as a global leader. China’s economic diplomats are working to translate national wealth accumulated over the past forty years into great power status and reshaping the international order. This new economic statecraft, stemming from a desire to go beyond the boundaries established by Xi’s predecessors, faces considerable challenges. In particular, the degree of success of China’s domestic economic reform will either enable or constrain China’s economic statecraft.  Chinese leaders face economic policy choices; the preferable outcome is a combination of light/controlled mercantilism, embedded liberalism, and a unique type of socialism conducive to domestic stability and international equality. China’s new economic statecraft has regional and global implications, in particular on the future shape of international order. The US, the EU and China are all under pressure to decide how to manage productively China’s ambition to adjust international institutions and rules to reflect China’s rise.