We think of china as being on top, but it's not a rich country. An average income in china is about ten thousand dollars. So we get thrown by seeing bentleys and shanghai or wonderful shedel sors in china. We're under fire from china now, but ch China still is in the process of growing. It sort of doesn't quite know what it wants. It knows it doesn't want to be told what to do by the grown ups in the room,. Or by the united states, or by the u k. And equally, we're not quite clear what it is that we want chChina to do.
Peter Frankopan is Professor of Global History at Oxford University and author of two seminal recent books on the shifting geopolitics of the world: The Silk Roads and its follow-up, The New Silk Roads. He speaks to fellow historian and writer Simon Sebag Montefiore at the Cliveden Literary Festival about how we may be currently witnessing the end of a historical era amid the emergence of a brand new one.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices