Jabbour says China is presenting the world with the idea of ​​a new globalization.

Sputnik - In an interview on the Mundioka podcast, Elias Khalil Jabbour, author of "China: Socialism in the 21st Century," says that China "does not want the burden of owning the world, like the US," but rather to strengthen other states to leverage multipolar geopolitics.

China is, without a doubt, one of the great powers of the contemporary world. It is one of the countries that has grown the most in recent decades, with an average growth of 10% per year, and has positioned itself on the global stage as a potential rival to the United States in the rise of a multipolar world.

But the country has a complex system, divided between socialism, implemented by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and capitalism. This combination raises the following question: ultimately, is China a socialist or capitalist country?

To answer this question, journalists Melina Saad and Thaiana de Oliveira, from the Mundioka podcast on Sputnik Brasil, interviewed Elias Khalil Jabbour, professor in the Postgraduate Program in Economic Sciences (PPGCE) and the Postgraduate Program in International Relations (PPGRI) at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) and author of the best-selling book "China: Socialism in the 21st Century," along with co-author Alberto Gabriele.

The book is the result of theoretical and statistical work by the authors, and analyzes China as the engine of the global economic system that the country has become, in addition to reflecting on what Chinese socialism is. It also addresses the prospects for Brazil's relationship with China, the country's main trading partner, during the administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

Political and economic freedom

In the interview, when asked about what allowed China's rise as it is seen today, Jabour emphasizes that it is the result of "the country's ability to manage its own interests, within the schemes that they themselves [the Chinese leaders] built," especially in the post-World War II period.

"Unlike Japan and South Korea, which emerged after World War II and were tied to the US sphere of influence, China underwent a revolution in 1949 that gave it the freedom to manage its foreign policy according to its own interests," explains Jabour.

He adds that, in addition to this revolution, "China has built a solid material base over the past 40 years, which has guaranteed the country greater sovereignty in the eyes of the world."

"It [China] has become the world's workshop, the world's largest net creditor. China alone lends more to developing countries than the IMF and the World Bank combined. And today China is the world's largest provider of public goods, building thousands of railways and highways around the world."

According to Jabour, this financial and infrastructure development contributes "to China's success in political matters."

When asked if he would classify China's foreign policy position as neutral, Jabour categorically states that it does not.

"There is no neutrality in politics. China pursues its own interests, just as we should pursue ours and the Americans pursue theirs. It is up to us, here in Brazil, to observe this trend in China, how it operates its foreign policy, and to seek opportunities for Brazil from this foreign policy that China has. And there are many opportunities open to Brazil."

No interference

He adds that China does, in fact, have a tradition of non-interference in the external affairs of other countries, but cautions that "this does not mean neutrality."

Jabbour states that Brazil's interest in China has increased significantly in recent years, but this increase is still "insufficient to build a Brazilian national identity capable of guiding Brazil's relationship with China."

"Much of the research on China is laden with stereotypes, prejudices, and value judgments. Because of this, we end up with a great deal of misinformation about China, and we miss out on opportunities that China can offer."

Asked whether China is socialist or capitalist, Jabour points out that, "from a Marxist point of view, this is a false debate."

He says that "China has a myriad of modes of production and social relations of production and exchange, which interact with each other," but that "what ultimately predominates is the public form of property."

"China today has 96 state-owned business conglomerates at the strategic core of its economy, companies the size of Petrobras. It is the public sector that delivers the chain reactions that the private sector takes advantage of to exist. It is the public sector that generates the cycles of economic accumulation. Furthermore, China is the country where billionaires and wealthy capitalists do not hold political power."

Jabour adds that, due to these factors, he believes that China is a social economic formation oriented towards socialism, but an embryonic socialism, "enveloped in contradictions of multiple kinds, which combine with the typical contradictions of capitalism."

The expert emphasizes that the model implemented in China is not a threat to any other state, and highlights that the country has the greatest social mobility in the world.

"It is the fastest-growing country in the world; consequently, when a country's income increases, the possibilities for social mobility are immense. Brazil is the complete opposite, where there is no money circulating, there is a distributive conflict, generating social stagnation and social stratification. This creates room for fascism to gain traction among many members of society. See Brazil, the USA, and Europe, where social stratification runs rampant."

A threat to the US?

Regarding China posing a threat to the US, Jabbour refutes the idea, saying that "it's China that should feel threatened."

"There are no Chinese aircraft carriers near the Gulf of Mexico. China has not posed a military threat to the US; quite the contrary. If we look at a world map and the American military bases that exist around the world, there are bases surrounding China."

He adds that for China, the burden of being a military power would be too great. "So much so that it [China] wants Brazil to be strong, Russia to be strong, and Africa to conform as a pole to compose the multipolar world. In other words, China does not want to have this burden of being the 'master of the world,' as the Americans want," Jabour points out.

According to Jabour, China is reshaping global geopolitics, insofar as it "delivers to the world today another form of globalization."

"An alternative to the financial globalization of the 1990s, which is centered on the export of public goods such as roads and railways, is the New Silk Road," says the expert.

He states that "people don't want lessons in democracy, they want money, development, infrastructure, industry."

"And who is offering this to the world today? China. That's why it's almost natural for many countries to try to be part of BRICS, because it's a real alternative to the domination exercised by the so-called West, that handful of countries that meet from time to time in the G7 and think the world is thinking as if we were 50 years in the past."

Subscribe to 247, Support via Pix, Subscribe to TV 247, in the channel Cuts 247 and watch: