The Beijing Consensus isn't all that great

ARTICLE: China Uses Global Crisis to Assert Its Influence, By Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post, April 23, 2009

The "Beijing Consensus" bit, as I wrote in Great Powers, is hardly an economic development philosophy on par with the Washington Consensus (which never really was a development philosophy but rather an expression of how mature markets should behave in a globalized economy). China's grand model consists mostly of giving very cheap loans that are only good for trade with China--hardly a new trick. Plus, when you trade with China, you typically don't trade "up" in terms of global rule sets, meaning you'll conduct trade in a less than transparent and corruption-free manner, so, in the end, more trade with China only preps you for even more trade with China. It does not signal development per se, but rather ensnarement. If you can call taking a bribe in order to establish trade a "consensus," then it's an awfully tiny one.