Adam Tooze is Chinamaxxing!

In this episode of the Sinica Podcast, host Kaiser Guo welcomes back economic historian Adam Tooze to Beijing for the China Development Forum, where they delve into the transformative implications of China's rise, particularly in the energy transition and global industrial dynamics. Tooze reflects on his ongoing journey to learn Chinese, emphasizing how mastering the language has deepened his understanding of political terminology and historical nuance. He argues that China’s 15th Five-Year Plan reveals a strategic pivot toward high-quality development, with a focus on green energy, technological innovation, and human capital—driven not by top-down central planning but by a sophisticated, market-embedded state capacity. He challenges Western narratives of China as a mere threat, instead highlighting how China’s massive renewable buildout, automation, and infrastructure exports are reshaping the global south in ways that are both transformative and underappreciated. Tooze also critiques the West’s cognitive dissonance, especially in Europe and the U.S., where political elites are increasingly forced to reckon with China’s structural power, even as they resist acknowledging the CPC’s institutional efficacy. The conversation culminates in a forward-looking vision of a China-centered world order, where development, not just climate, is the defining global project of the 21st century. Key takeaways include: China’s green energy expansion is not just a policy outcome but a systemic, state-driven transformation that defies Western models of market-led progress; the CPC’s unique ability to balance mobilization and discipline enables unprecedented urban and environmental improvements; Europe’s auto industry is now pragmatically engaging with China, not rejecting it, through deals that include price floors and quotas; China’s global influence in the Global South is less about exploitation and more about enabling development through affordable infrastructure and technology; and the West’s failure to respond coherently to global crises—like the Iran war—reveals a deeper democratic and strategic crisis. Tooze’s upcoming book reframes the climate crisis as a China-centered development challenge, not a Western-led global governance problem, marking a pivotal shift in how we understand global history.