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troubledtheory's review
5.0
A brilliant and well articulated overview of the CCPs foreign policy and overall ties into the global economy. A highly suggested book for anyone trying to get a better understanding of China's influence in the western world
lijadora's review
informative
sad
medium-paced
4.0
An interesting overview of how China acts on the international scene - a.o. seen through the lens of Hong Kong, Australia, Italy/ the EU, Turkey and the USA. Learnt a thing or two as well.
jackwwang's review
2.0
Thought it would be a more insider baseball Chinawatching account of internal dynamics in Xi's China, but Chiu focuses instead on Chinese influence internationally, describing efforts of the United Front to shape discourse about China in Western countries, and the Belt and Road initiative as more prominent soft projection of Chinese power in the recent decade.
It's interesting and disturbing to learn about the specific tactics China is using to influence especially Chinese diaspora abroad, and Chiu also does not shy away from calling out anti-Asian bigotry as a primary driver of the China discourse in western democracies, but somehow the book falls flat, and never becomes more than a slightly pedantic recitation of events and facts.
It's interesting and disturbing to learn about the specific tactics China is using to influence especially Chinese diaspora abroad, and Chiu also does not shy away from calling out anti-Asian bigotry as a primary driver of the China discourse in western democracies, but somehow the book falls flat, and never becomes more than a slightly pedantic recitation of events and facts.
boipoka's review against another edition
3.0
It would be a very interesting read if I wasn't well aware of the New Silk Road initiatives, as well as most of the other events discussed in the book. The only thing I learnt from the book is the history of and current tensions around Lake Baikal - which I was completely unaware of. But everything else discussed in the book, I've already read about in more details than the book covered, so my overall experience was a bit "meh".
It's a decent enough introduction to China's machinations on the world stage if (a) you've never read/heard anything about China and (b) you're an "western citizen". This book is very heavily focused on "the west". So much so that though we spend one third of the book on the new silk road, we don't delve into China's involvement in infrastructure development in Africa and Asia. The chapters are focused on European nations, and we are only informed in passing about China's port in Sri Lanka or its military base in Djibouti. I was rather disappointed to see that - influencing developing nations is a very important part of building a world order, so I had expected to spend more time there.
Overall, not a bad book, and there's tons of good journalistic research - but it wasn't what I was looking for.
It's a decent enough introduction to China's machinations on the world stage if (a) you've never read/heard anything about China and (b) you're an "western citizen". This book is very heavily focused on "the west". So much so that though we spend one third of the book on the new silk road, we don't delve into China's involvement in infrastructure development in Africa and Asia. The chapters are focused on European nations, and we are only informed in passing about China's port in Sri Lanka or its military base in Djibouti. I was rather disappointed to see that - influencing developing nations is a very important part of building a world order, so I had expected to spend more time there.
Overall, not a bad book, and there's tons of good journalistic research - but it wasn't what I was looking for.