«Chinese Model (of Reform)» («Beijing Consensus»): Causes and Essence of China's Rapid Economic Rise

The article attempts to conceptualize the «Chinese model (of reforms)» («Beijing Consensus») in the context of the rapid economic rise of modern China. Acquaintance with the published sources and literature, the pages of which reflected the different views of domestic, Western, and Chinese scientists on the announced problem, revealed that some of them perceive the Chinese model positively, others note both advantages and disadvantages, the third group almost exclusively focuses on mainly negative moments (exploitation, the polarization of society, ecological catastrophes, etc.) and often opposites the modern Chinese reality to the era of Mao Zedong, which they portray as the embodiment of true socialism. It is concluded that the high rate of economic growth in China is achieved through the strategy developed by Deng Xiaoping and aimed at large-scale economic reforms, the policy of «openness» of the country, which helped China to take a leading position in the world. The thesis is substantiated that in modern conditions the functions of the CCP (exercising supreme political power, coordinating, mobilizing, reforming, presenting) as a custodian of the official dogmas are successfully supplemented by reformist actions, which demonstrates the party’s significant adaptation to the new socio-political and economic situation in China. The authors argue that Chinese foreign policy in the early XXI century is increasingly globalized and becoming offensive. In almost every region of the world, Beijing has a system of its own interests aimed at enhancing the country’s political role in the world, creating favourable conditions for continuing economic reforms, gaining access to financial, technological, and raw materials. The use of a powerful arsenal of «soft power» allows China to successfully © Дем’яненко Б. Л., 2021 pursue economic cooperation without causing it political, ideological or historical problems. It was stated that China’s long-term goal is to support the peaceful international environment necessary to protect Chinese interests, in particular for the successful promotion of global projects and modernization of the country. At the same time, China’s strategic activity has long gone beyond the state, which, thanks to intensive economic expansion, has become a participant in the redistribution of spheres of influence in the world in its favour, displacing competing actors from those regions of the world where they dominated. China’s path to multipolarity is not about power policy, the creation of military-political blocs, the imposition of its own ideological standards, etc., but through the use of economic potential and aid.