This chapter recapitulates the dual institutional framework and the empirical findings of this book. It then discusses how the findings contribute to ongoing policy and theoretical debates.

This chapter provides a comprehensive account of the main argument of the book and its supporting evidence and limitations, describes developments in China’s judicial politics since 2016, and then discusses implications of this book for future research in the field. Framed in the context of nationwide reforms to enhance judicial autonomy between 2014 and 2016, which I find were motivated by a constellation of similar local concerns including judicial “brain drain,” rapid increases in the cost of living in urban China, and the major transformations of the legal profession particularly prevalent in high-end localities elucidated throughout this book.

Compared to Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, China presents an entirely new challenge to the democracies because it is closely intertwined with the latter economically and socially. The CCP’s increasingly dictatorial turn cannot be explained by Xi Jinping’s personality, but the CCP’s logical development. The only way for the democracies to effectively protect themselves from, and counter, the CCP’s expansion is to form an alliance and take collective actions to demand that the CCP make meaningful changes toward respecting human rights, the rule of law, and fair and open markets. To be effective, the democracies should adopt a “tit for tat, delink-ready” strategy in pushing the CCP to make desired changes. Collectively, the major democracies have more bargaining power than the CCP, and thus should stand firm on their demands from the CCP. For MNCs, the book offers several tips to help them in formulating China-related strategies based on the perspectives of China, Inc. and China’s reliance on the relation-based system. For management scholars, the book opens new research areas in the theory of the firm, institutional theory, and other theoretical issues.

Will China catch up to America, and if so, when? Will the superpower conflict with the United States derail or at least significantly slow down China’s rise in a post–COVID-19 world? What does China’s further rise mean for the rest of the world? These are the questions addressed in the final chapter. It first assesses China’s potential growth rate over the next thirty years under the assumption that geopolitical challenges will not have a significant effect on China’s long-term growth trend. The chapter then discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitics on China’s growth prospects. The chapter projects that China’s economy will most likely surpass that of the United States by 2030 and possibly double that of the United States in 2050. It is argued that geopolitics will not have significant impact on China’s economic prospects, and that China’s rise can benefit the rest of the world particularly through its increasing contribution to global technological progress. Because China’s rise appears irreversible, the chapter concludes that we are entering a truly multipolar world, and peaceful coexistence is no longer an option but a necessity.

The introduction first provides the general background and motivation for the book. Catching up to America was an explicit development goal for China set by Mao Zedong in the 1950s. But Mao’s approach to economic development ended in disaster. Since 1978 when Deng Xiaoping launched economic reform, China has experienced arguably the most rapid economic rise in world history. The introduction then raises the main questions to be addressed in the book. What has led to China’s rapid economic rise? When may China overtake the United States to become the largest economy? Is there a China model of development that can be emulated by other developing countries? Why is China’s economy slowing down? Will deteriorating US–China relations slow it down even further? The introduction then points out that the real puzzle with Chinese growth is not why China has grown faster than all developed countries, but why it has grown so much faster than other low- and middle-income developing countries. Next, it lays out the content and structure of the book chapter by chapter. Lastly, it describes the global comparative perspective the book has adopted in its analysis of China’s economic rise.