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A Geopolitical Approach to China's Future as an Empire
Author(s) -
Eronen Jarmo
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.766
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1467-9663
pISSN - 0040-747X
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9663.00002
Subject(s) - geopolitics , empire , china , inequality , state (computer science) , political science , islam , geography , development economics , space (punctuation) , economy , ancient history , history , economics , law , politics , mathematical analysis , mathematics , archaeology , algorithm , computer science , linguistics , philosophy
A geopolitcal theory developed by Randall Collins (1986) predicted the fall of the Soviet empire. The question now being asked is how long China will exist within its present frontiers. The unity of the state is threatened by overextension of resources, growing economic inequality, and ethnic separatism. An attempt is made to quantify the potential for separatism of the Chinese provinces. The highest scores were received by Xinjiang, Tibet, Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang. The pull of the strong Hong Kong and Taiwanese economies may create an integrated South Chinese economic space, stretching from Hainan to Shanghai. The pull from the Turkic and Islamic states in Central Asia may increase separatist tendencies in Xinjiang.