A postcolonial reading of the state question in China

The notion of sovereignty in China carries a postcolonial legacy. Earlier Chinese leaders adopted the notion of sovereignty to protect themselves from Western imperialist intrusion. However, not only was their performance as a sovereign state judged against a set of criteria already determined externally, but their sovereign sphere was also constructed too late to avoid the imperialist remnants within China which were established before Chinese could nominally strengthen their sovereign defense. As a result, with every Chinese assertion of their soverign status, there comes the internal reminder that it is subverted. The sense of anxiety and frustration thus created explains China's harsh policy toward Taiwan, a piece of land considered to be Chinese but now searching for independent statehood. Taiwan, once a Japanese colony and then an American Cold War base, has become a permanent reminder to the Chinese leaders of their unwanted historical shame.     

Reviews

The expansion of the global economy and the governance deficit it has generated raise questions about the possibilities for regulating the practices of participants in global production networks. This paper focuses on the regulation of industrial relations in Cambodia's textile and garment industry – a unique ensemble of state, trade union, private sector and international institutions that is promoted as a “fair model of globalisation.” We track the trajectory of Cambodia's industrialisation and insertion into the global economy over three interrelated phases: first, the beginnings of export-orientated garment production in the mid- to late 1990s; secondly, the promotion of Cambodia as an “ethical producer” from 1999; and, thirdly, privileging “competitiveness” in global production networks over labour compliance for its advantage. In doing so we centre our analysis on the complex intertwining of global production, the genesis of the unique ensemble of actors in Cambodia and the anomaly of Cambodia's labour movement.