‘China’s Economy Is The Foundation of Much of Its Power Projection Around The World,’ Author Says

The People's Republic of China "has used the power of its economy beyond its borders to push its illiberal and authoritarian geopolitical objectives and to change the behavior of individuals, governments, companies, and multilateral institutions," says Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, author of "Beijing Rules: How China Weaponized Its Economy to Confront the World."

"The reason I chose to focus on China's economic power is that I have covered China's power projection beyond its borders as a beat for about seven years, and I found that underlying much of China's power is its economic power," says Allen-Ebrahimian, who is the China reporter for Axios.

"Whether that's its diplomatic power, it's still, to this day, a lot of the foundation of that is its economic power, what we tend to call extraterritorial censorship," says Allen-Ebrahimian, who has lived in Taiwan since August 2022, adding:

I mean, the NBA and Hollywood studios will self-censor. This is an extension of China's economic power. And so I found that at least, I would say, until the first half of the 21st century, China's economy is the foundation of much of its power projection around the world.

Allen-Ebrahimian joins today's episode of "The Daily Signal Podcast" to discuss her new book and what she has seen as the biggest change that China has undergone since she lived there in 2004 and then again from 2008 to 2012.

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