In 2004, Joshua Cooper Ramo, now co-CEO of Kissinger Associates, coined the term “Beijing Consensus” as an alternative to the Washington Consensus, the neoliberal framework of economic policies devised in the 1980s by the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and US Treasury.
China had just joined the World Trade Organization and, within the country, there was considerable scepticism that a Beijing Consensus existed.
Come 2007, and as the global financial crisis broke out – first with the US subprime and then the European debt crises – the world looked to China, which stepped up with the famous 4 trillion yuan (US$564 billion) stimulus package.
That stimulus unleashed a decade of massive investment in infrastructure, but also an ensuing decade of dealing with a real estate debacle. From 2017, Donald Trump’s first US presidential term signalled a new era of intense geopolitical rivalry.
Since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the Global South has had growing doubts over the Washington Consensus, which advocated free trade, free flow of capital, rule of law and democracy as the preferred model for development. After the 2007 crisis, even advanced economies raised doubts.
In 2011, Germany launched the Industry 4.0 initiative as part of its High Tech 2020 Strategy. Beijing followed in 2015 with its Made in China 2025 strategy, sparking a global race in industrial policy to match China’s growing prowess.