1st Edition

The Hungry Dragon How China’s Resource Quest is Reshaping the World

    200 Pages
    by Routledge

    200 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book explores China’s quest for energy sources, raw materials and natural resources around the world, with a specific emphasis on oil. China’s ubiquitous presence in Africa, Asia and Latin America is reshaping the world with regards to economics, politics and national security. It offers a comprehensive examination of China’s energy security strategy.

    The first two chapters delve into Chinese relations with energy markets and the world, and the global geopolitics of China's resource quest. This introductory section is complemented by three in-depth country case studies: Angola, Brazil and Cambodia. The two concluding chapters cover opportunities and risks to China, and examine how strategies can be developed into tangible actions.

    The volume also examines a number of overlapping debates regarding the varieties of capitalisms (autocratic vs. democratic), the urgent need for rebalancing as the world undergoes global financial crises and contestations to traditional powers, and the issues surrounding natural resource extraction in the context of global governance, neoliberalism and poverty traps.


    Key Features

    · Offers an in-depth analysis on the geopolitics of China's resource quest.

    · Assists students and scholars in understanding the Chinese model of autocratic capitalism and China’s novel ways of securing resources across three continents.

    · Explains China’s energy security strategy and its implications on US national security.

    · Explores the links between international relations and the geopolitics of scarcity.

       

    Preface 

    I. Introduction

    Chapter 1: China, Energy, and the World

    Chapter 2: The Geopolitics of China’s Global Resources Quest

    II. Country Case Studies

    Chapter 3: Angola

    Chapter 4: Brazil 

    Chapter 5: Cambodia 

    III. Conclusion 

    Chapter 6: Assessing Opportunities, Mitigating Risks

    Chapter 7: From Strategies to Actions

    Bibliography

    Acknowledgements

    Index

                                                      

    Biography

    Sigfrido Burgos Cáceres works at the University of South Alabama and is a consultant specializing in international development and foreign affairs. From 2007 to 2012 he was based in Rome, Italy, at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. He lives in Mobile with his wife.

    .

    Sophal Ear is an Assistant Professor of National Security Affairs at the US Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. He is the author of Aid Dependence in Cambodia: How Foreign Assistance Undermines Democracy (Columbia University Press).

    "The Hungry Dragon arrives at a perfect time. Burgos and Ear, already authorities on China’s appetite for resources across the world in journals as varied as Asian Survey, Geopolitics and the Journal of Contemporary China, have written a book of incredible scope and breadth. The Hungry Dragon is the culmination of their scholarly efforts and indispensable for students and scholars of China and energy security alike. If you want to know about China’s energy security strategy and how the rest of the world, but most importantly America, should react, read this book!" - Wei Liang, Monterey Institute of International Studies and co-editor, China and Global Trade Governance: China’s Ten-Year Experience in the World Trade Organization

    "The dragon has awakened. Its appetite for energy and natural resources vastly exceed its internal supplies. This book examines the geopolitical ramifications of China’s quest for critical inputs. Given the increasing interconnectedness of global economies and the inherent limits of energy and natural resources, this book should be on your reading list. The authors write with fluid style and frame the key elements that pertain to this seminally important issue that applies to everyone, especially energy-gluttonous Americans who occupy 5% of the world population but consume 25% of world energy." - Jack Odle, Distinguished Professor, North Carolina State University

    "Despite much alarmism about China's rise and global resource shortages, this well constructed volume suggests that fears of disruptions are misplaced. While the global economy is changing rapidly, China's growing confidence in international affairs means that it's rise is both peaceful and transformative. A very useful corrective to simplistic alarmism, this volume deserves a wide readership among both development and international relations scholars and policy makers."- Simon Dalby, CIGI chair in the Political Economy of Climate Change, Balsillie School of International Affairs.

    "The Chinese empire has reawakened! The hungry dragon provides an outstanding vision of China’s quest to engross oil and other natural resources. Whether you are an expert in energy economics, international trade or national security, or if you simply have an interest on any of these areas, this book is a must read. The authors are recognized scholars with an excellent track record in their respective areas of research. Their experience and interesting writing style make this a very distinctive piece of work." - Dr Marco A. Palma, Associate Professor and Extension Economist, Texas A&M University

    ‘The hungry dragon provides an outstanding vision of China’s quest to engross oil and other natural resources … this book is a must read.’- Dr Marco A. Palma, Associate Professor and Extension Economist, Texas A&M University

    Burgos and Ear, already authorities on China’s appetite for resources across the world in journals … have written a book of incredible scope and breadth.’ - Wei Liang, Monterey Institute of International Studies and co-editor, China and Global Trade Governance: China’s Ten-Year Experience in the World Trade Organization

    ‘The authors write with fluid style and frame the key elements that pertain to this seminally important issue that applies to everyone.’ - Jack Odle, Distinguished Professor, North Carolina State University

    ‘A very useful corrective to simplistic alarmism, this volume deserves a wide readership among both development and international relations scholars and policy makers.’ - Simon Dalby, CIGI chair in the Political Economy of Climate Change, Balsillie School of International Affairs

    '... a complete research on the China’s economy for the interest of the international community ... The research of Burgos Cáceres and Sophal Ear is easily accessible to a general audi-ence interested in understanding how China became a global power in our century, but also provides enough data to orient any study on the topic for academic specialists and policy practitioners.' - Albeiro Rodas, Don Bosco Foundation of Cambodia 

    'With its hard realist no-nonsense subtext on China’s voracious appetite for finite resources matched by genuine concerns over potential for conflict and alarming environmental trends, the authors have produced a compelling, if fact-packed, text that should seek a wider audience.' - Geoffrey C. Gunn, Emeritus, Nagasaki University

    'The Hungry Dragon by Burgos Cáceres and Sophal Ear is a rare book and a treat to read... The data and analysis contained in the book go a long way in illuminating a dynamic geopolitical situation where large global powers, and their money and influence, play a pivotal role in political economies of the countries where the resources are extracted.' Sean Yiath, University of California