A fundamental reality, which this stimulating book stresses, is how significant British interaction with China pre-dates the British takeover of Hong Kong Island, in 1842, by around 250 years. The British colonisation of Hong Kong was an important turning-point during the 400-year contest captured in the title – but not more than that.

And here is one way to take a measure of the Great Reversal.

By the early 19th century, British traders were forcing themselves upon the Middle Kingdom. Most dominant was the British East India Company, which was profiting massively from the opium trade with China.

Still, the ruling Qing Dynasty in China enjoyed a huge, prima-facie home ground advantage at that time. China was a vast contiguous empire, with a very large population and it was, in many respects, exceptionally wealthy compared to far smaller Britain. Yet, the British, remarkably, were able, very far from home, to assert their demands and extract compliance from this massively important empire. Ultimately, Britain’s advanced military might and skill were used, repeatedly and fiercely, to secure these outcomes.

The contrast between how poorly defended China was 200 years ago and today could hardly be more stark. Now China is a nuclear armed superpower, home, using a Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) economic measure, to the world largest economy. It is both a technology powerhouse and the primary global trading giant – outpacing, the US, EU and UK combined – and leading the world across a raft of key manufacturing sectors, including shipping, motor vehicles, and green technology. Although its annual military expenditure is still dwarfed by the US, it is huge. And it is growing. As reversals go, nothing else in modern world history compares.

The modern historical timeline

Kerry Brown’s book also explains how British influence in China reached a peak around 1900. By then, American influence was accelerating. Next, Japanese influence, culminating in a vast, exceptionally savage invasion, was dominant until Japan’s defeat in World War II.

After that defeat, the Chinese Civil War resumed. In 1949, The Communist Party of China (CPC) led by Mao Zedong, established the new People’s Republic of China (PRC) after winning the Civil War. The PRC replaced the Republic of China (ROC) led by Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang (KMT). The KMT (and the ROC) retreated to the island province of Taiwan.

The US was, as World War II drew to a close, against the idea of Britain resuming........

© Pearls and Irritations