Class description: The fifth and final class in the course considers China’s internationalist orientation and specifically its contemporary relationship with the Global South, and its struggle for territorial integrity. In addition to providing a historical overview of China’s role on the international stage, part one debunks the “debt-trap” myth, examines the Belt and Road Initiative, and looks at case studies of Chinese investment to compare and contrast it with the strategies of global capital and demystify the idea of “Chinese imperialism.” Part two looks at China’s struggle to achieve, maintain, and defend its territorial integrity in the face of the U.S.’s new Cold War against it. Specifically, it examines struggles over Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and the South China Sea and, illuminating the hypocritical imperialist propaganda campaigns for each respective area.
Course description: As China’s global rise rivals U.S. hegemony, the number one priority of U.S. foreign policy is to wage a demonization campaign against China. Since the Obama administration announced the Pivot to Asia, the U.S. has spent countless military dollars in the Pacific to encircle China. While the demonization and propaganda campaign against China has been at an all time high, the unforeseen COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the anti-China narrative.
As the outrageous demonization campaign against China continues to grow amidst this crisis, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, in partnership with the Qiao Collective, is holding a five-part class series on China. The course will examine the construction of modern day China in the context of global imperialism, starting from the very first Opium war between China and Britain in the early 1800s. Imperial China, which was one of the most advanced civilizations of the world, quickly became a country looted and torn apart by many imperialist nations who wanted a piece of the pie. The course will examine China’s century-long national liberation struggle and the construction of socialism. The purpose of the class is to provide the necessary context for understanding modern China today, especially under the weight of U.S. imperialism.
Return to the course page here.
