Is China Buying the World?

Peter Nolan is Professor of Chinese Management at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Chinese Big Business Programme at the Judge Business School. He has been centrally involved in discussions about the integration of China with the global economy and business system. He has testified before the US Congress' US-China Economic and Security Review Commission and served as an Advisor to the World Bank.

• List of Tables viiAcknowledgements ixIntroduction 11 Who are We? Who are They? 112 Who are We? 152.1 Globalization and industrial concentration 152.2 Evidence from automobiles and beverages 252.3 Globalization and 'going out' by global firms 383 Who are They? 553.1 China catches up 553.2 China is still far from 'catching up' 663.3 China's deepening relationship with developing countries 703.4 Oil companies and energy security 753.5 Multinational companies 'going in' to China 843.6 Chinese fi rms 'going out' of China into the high-income economies: 'I have you within me but you do not have me within you' 953.7 Constraints on China 'buying the world' 1024 The Complexity of 'Us' and 'Them': The Case of Strategic Industries 1104.1 Banks 1104.2 Commercial aircraft 119Conclusion 132Is China buying the world? 132Who are we? 133Who are they? 136The complexity of catching up 142References 144

"China frightens the west. Rarely, however, do westerners look at how the world looks to China. Among the few westerners able to look at the world from the Chinese point of view is Peter Nolan... In [this] thought-provoking book... he addresse[s] one of the big fears about China – that it is buying the world. His answer is no: we are inside China but China is not inside us."Martin Wolf, Financial Times "Peter Nolan knows more about Chinese companies and their international competition than anyone else on earth, including in China."Financial Times "This new book joins the debate with breath-taking depth and width, probing the very heart of the global economic system that we currently live in."LSE Politics Blog"A balanced and very honest analysis."Global Journal "Another excellent product of Nolan's fruitful academic career. In spite of its brevity, this highly readable yet rigorous volume closely engages many essential issues that directly concern the future of the world's economic and political orders."China Perspectives "This is a useful little book; not only for its assessment of China, but also for its résumé of the globalised West and indeed worth a look for that alone."Liberator "A well-argued rebuttal of anti-Chinese xenophobia, full of remarkable statistics."The Age"A slim and agile study of the eponymous question, which primarily seeks to debunk the growing myth."International Affairs ''This is an analysis which replaces rhetoric on Chinese companies with evidence''Business Week "Nolan makes a convincing case against panic. Even China's vast sovereign wealth is small compared to the market capitalisation of the companies listed on the stock exchanges of the West."The CA Magazine"Nolan's slim factual volume is a model of clarity."Morning Star"An important perspective that challenges popular conceptions."Publisher's Weekly"If you want to learn about large companies, their role in the global economy and in China's rise, there is no better guide than Peter Nolan: his analyses are factual, measured and persuasive."Vaclav Smil, University of Manitoba