In this episode, I’m joined by Tings Chak, Art Director at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and Editor of Wenhua Zongheng: A Journal of Contemporary Chinese Thought, to discuss China’s role in the shifting global order. We examine the achievements of China’s socialist revolution, its meteoric rise on the world stage in recent decades, and the complex dynamics of the ‘New Cold War’ that the United States is waging against China. In particular, we focus on the most common myths and misconceptions regarding China’s engagement with African nations and other countries in the Global South, and work to break down some of the anti-China propaganda that is frequently spread in American media outlets.

Return to Bandung is hosted by Pranay Somayajula, an Indian-American writer, researcher, and organizer based in Washington, D.C. His work explores themes of diaspora, (inter)nationalism, anticolonial politics, and the many lives and afterlives of empire. You can learn more about Pranay and read his writing on his website, as well as on his Substack blog, culture shock.

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Sources and helpful links:

• Wenhua Zongheng: A Journal of Contemporary Chinese Thought

• Jayati Ghosh — Interpreting Contemporary Imperialism: Lessons From Samir Amin (Monthly Review, March 2021)

• Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research — Hyper-Imperialism: A Dangerous Decadent New Stage (January 2024)

• Yao Zhongqiu — Five Centuries of Global Transformation: A Chinese Perspective (Wenhua Zongheng, March 2023)

• Deborah Brautigam and Meg Rithmire — The Chinese ‘Debt Trap’ Is a Myth (The Atlantic, February 2021)

• China Africa Research Initiative

• Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research — How Neoliberalism Has Wielded ‘Corruption’ to Privatise Life in Africa (November 2024)

• Li Minqi — China: Imperialism or Semi-Periphery? (Monthly Review, July 2021)

• John Kerry — Remarks at the U.S.-African Union High-Level Dialogue (May 2014)

• Full text of Li Keqiang's speech at Africa Union (China Daily, May 2014)

• “China’s Ecological Transition” issue of Wenhua Zongheng

• Xiong Jie and Tings Chak — Reviving Erhai Lake: A Socialist Approach to Balancing Human and Ecological Development (Wenhua Zongheng, December 2024)

• Tings Chak — Creation is a Political Action, and a Writer is a Politicised Person: The Eighth Tricontinental Art Bulletin (Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, October 2024)

• Mao Zedong — Statement Supporting the Panamanian People's Just Patriotic Struggle Against U.S. Imperialism (January 1964)

Social links:

Return to Bandung:

• Twitter: ⁠twitter.com/returntobandung⁠

• Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/returntobandung/⁠

Pranay Somayajula:

• Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/p_somayajula⁠

• Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/pranay.somayajula/⁠

• Website: ⁠https://www.pranaysomayajula.com/⁠

• Substack: ⁠https://www.culture-shock.xyz/⁠

Tings Chak:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/t_ings

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tingschak/

Tricontinental Institute for Social Research:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/tri_continental

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetricontinental/