The reconfiguration of China as a world power: fundamental elements to understand the role of Latin America in this process

Abstract

This article reviews the history of China in order to identify the key moments that allowed this country to become a power with the ability to dispute the global hegemony, resulting from a particular socio-historical development that starts with its self-isolation until its incorporation into the world market with its own political and economic project inherited from a revolutionary process that had a high cost for Chinese society. Based on the world-system approach, proposed by Wallerstein, the article analyzes the transformation of China from a world-empire to a peripheral economy, and, later, the achievement of a political and economic centrality that places it at the head of a new world order, which is not devoid of imperialist overtones. In this framework, parallels are established with Latin American history, since the region plays a central role in the consolidation of Chinese hegemony.