Heine Discusses New Book & Rise of China in GDP Center Q&A

In an interview with the Global Development Policy Center (GDP Center), Ambassador Jorge Heine, Research Professor at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, discusses his latest book – Xi-na en el siglo del dragón. Lo que todos deben saber sobre China (Xi-Na in the Century of the Dragon: What Everyone Should Know About China) – and how, over the past 40 years, China has burst onto the international stage becoming the second largest economy in the world and a major player on the world stage. 

In his remarks, Heine explores how China differs from other developing countries, how it has been able to achieve its unprecedented growth, as well as to what extent this will it be the century of China. In discussing his motivation for writing this latest book, Heine noted how important it is to understand China from a Latin American perspective. As the region struggles to recover from its own economic and health crises, Heine argues that “there is no interest in imitating the Chinese political model, but there are things we can learn from Chinese public policies.”

An excerpt:

Q: Given China’s prominent role in the recent global economy, do you agree this century will be the century of Asia? To what extent will it be the century of China?

JH: I do. And this is not a matter of wishful thinking, but of hard demographic and economic data and projections. Today, already more than half of the world’s population, some 4 billion people, are Asian. Projections indicate that in 2050, the top three economies in the world will be China, India and the US, in that order. Of the top ten economies in the world, seven will be non-Western, including many Asian ones. And at the core of this Asian resurgence is China. The writing is on the wall.

The full Q&A can be read on the GDP Centers’ website.

Ambassador Jorge Heine is a Research Professor at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. He has served as ambassador of Chile to China (2014-2017), to India (2003-2007), and to South Africa (1994-1999), and as a Cabinet Minister in the Chilean Government. Read more about Ambassador Heine on his faculty profile.