Dealing With China

An Insider Unmasks the New Economic Superpower

Henry M. Paulson, Jr. 2015, Beaverton 330.951 PAU

Paulson (born 1946) is connected. This book is about his meetings with Chinese officials, as a VP for Goldman Sachs, then as US Treasury Secretary under George W. Bush. I read a few chapters; no dirty laundry, this is an encomium to China's top leaders. Which is fine as a balance to the paranoid fantasies of Chinaphobes.

China still focuses inwards; the leadership's purpose for global involvement is to provide jobs and a good living for their citizens. Not purely out of altruism, but to retain absolute power. Xi is President for Life in order to protect the office of President for Life. To do so, thousands of mid-level kleptocrats get the ax; ordinary citizens approve. It could be worse.

A brief mention of US/China/Russia cyberconflict; there are no national-scale innocents. Paulson suggests an extension of the Geneva Convention regards cyberconflict versus civilians.

• A good idea, but with the US playing a principal role, and with all sides targeting softer "civilian targets" (external and internal), the force for change may come from "the bottom" after civilians get rid of the leaders who created this mess. Western europeans, with everything to lose and nothing to gain from cyberwarfare, may take the lead here.