Under the ambitious leadership of President Xi Jinping, China is zealously transforming its wealth and economic power into potent tools of global political influence. But China's foreign policy initiatives, even the vaunted "Belt and Road," will be shaped and redefined as they confront theground realities of local and regional politics outside China. In China's Western Horizon, Daniel S. Markey, a scholar of international relations and former member of the U.S. State Department's policy planning staff, previews how China's efforts are likely to play out in its own "backyard:" theswath of Eurasia that includes South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East. Drawing from his extensive interviews, travels, and historical research, Markey describes how perceptions of China vary widely within states like Pakistan, Kazakhstan, and Iran.The region's powerful and privileged groups often expect to profit from their connections to China, while others fear commercial and political losses. Similarly, statesmen across Eurasia are scrambling to harness China's energy purchases, arms sales, and infrastructure investments as a means tooutdo their strategic competitors, like India and Saudi Arabia, while negotiating relations with Russia and America. On balance, Markey anticipates that China's deepening involvement will play to the advantage of regional strongmen and exacerbate the political tensions within and among Eurasianstates. To make the most of America's limited influence in China's backyard (and elsewhere), he argues that U.S. policymakers should pursue a selective and localized strategy to serve America's aims in Eurasia and to better compete with China over the long run.

Under the ambitious leadership of President Xi Jinping, China is zealously transforming its wealth and economic power into potent tools of global political influence. But China's foreign policy initiatives, even the vaunted "Belt and Road," will be shaped and redefined as they confront the ground realities of local and regional politics outside China. In China's Western Horizon, Daniel S. Markey, a scholar of international relations and former member of the U.S. State Department's policy planning staff, previews how China's efforts are likely to play out along its "western horizon:" across the swath of Eurasia that includes South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East. Drawing from extensive interviews, travels, and historical research, Markey describes how perceptions of China vary widely within states such as Pakistan, Kazakhstan, and Iran. Powerful and privileged groups across the region often expect to profit from their connections to China, while others fear commercial and political losses. Similarly, Eurasian statesmen are scrambling to harness China's energy purchases, arms sales, and infrastructure investment. These leaders are working with China in order to outdo their strategic competitors, including India and Saudi Arabia, and simultaneously negotiating relations with Russia and America. On balance, Markey anticipates that China's deepening involvement will play to the advantage of regional strongmen and exacerbate the political tensions within and among Eurasian states. To make the most of America's limited influence in China's backyard (and elsewhere), he argues that U.S. policymakers should pursue a selective and localized strategy to serve America's specific aims in Eurasia and to better compete with China over the long run.

A vivid account of China's unstoppable quest to build a railway into Tibet, and its obsession to transform its land and its people In the summer of 2006, the Chinese government fulfilled a fifty-year plan to build a railway into Tibet. Since Mao Zedong first envisioned it, the line had grown into an imperative, a critical component of China's breakneck expansion and the final maneuver in strengthening China's grip over this remote and often mystical frontier, which promised rich resources and geographic supremacy over South Asia. Through the lives of the Chinese and Tibetans swept up in the project, Fortune magazine writer Abrahm Lustgarten explores the "Wild West" atmosphere of the Chinese economy today. He follows innovative Chinese engineer Zhang Luxin as he makes the train's route over the treacherous mountains and permafrost possible (for now), and the tenacious Tibetan shopkeeper Rinzen, who struggles to hold on to his business in a boomtown that increasingly favors the Han Chinese. As the railway—the highest and steepest in the world—extends to Lhasa, and China's "Go West" campaign delivers waves of rural poor eager to make their fortunes, their lives and communities fundamentally change, sometimes for good, sometimes not. Lustgarten's book is a timely, provocative, and absorbing first-hand account of the Chinese boom and the promise and costs of rapid development on the country's people.

"This book explains how China's new foreign policy initiatives like the vaunted "Belt and Road" are being shaped by local and regional politics outside China and assesses the political implications of these developments for Eurasia and the United States. It depicts the ways that President Xi Jinping's China is zealously transforming its national wealth and economic power into tools of global political influence and details these developments in South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East. Drawing from extensive interviews, travels, and historical research, it describes how perceptions of China vary widely within states like Pakistan, Kazakhstan, and Iran. Eurasia's powerful and privileged groups often expect to profit from their connections to China, while others fear commercial and political losses. Similarly, statesmen across Eurasia are scrambling to harness China's energy purchases, arms sales, and infrastructure investments as a means to outdo their strategic competitors, like India and Saudi Arabia, while negotiating relations with Russia and America. The book finds that, on balance, China's deepening involvement will play to the advantage of regional strongmen and exacerbate the political tensions within and among Eurasian states. To make the most of America's limited influence in China's backyard (and elsewhere), it argues that U.S. policymakers should pursue a selective and localized strategy to serve America's aims in Eurasia and to better compete with China over the long run"--

This is a book of China's own political narrative written by one of China's leading and best-known thinkers. It is the last part of the author's "China Trilogy", which is a best-seller in China, with over one million copies sold. The book in itself is a centerpiece of the unfolding debate within China on the nature and future of the country and how it compares with the West. It addresses a hugely important issue of the day, i.e., in what way China is overtaking or may overtake the United States as the world's preeminent power. The author provides an original and thought-provoking study on how China has managed, through its own development model, to catch up and even surpass, to various extents, the United States, in terms of gross GDP, net household assets and social protection. The book elaborates on how China has engaged itself in reshaping its institutions to ensure its smooth rise, drawing on the strengths of its own traditions, socialist legacies and elements from the West. It analyzes the weakness of the Western political institutions and discusses how China has developed its own institutional edge over the West. The author argues that as a civilizational state, China has evolved a logic of its own for development and its own political discourse which questions seriously many Western assumptions about democracy, good governance and universal values. The book recaptures the essence of China's past glory and discusses the horizon of the Chinese dream as well as how China should meet the various challenges ahead. It offers a unique and original perspective on the future of this coming superpower. Like The China Wave, this book is both discerning and provocative, and serves as a required reading for everyone concerned with the rise of China and its global implications. Contents:From Catching-Up to SurpassingFrom Myth to TruthBeyond the Western InstitutionsA New Political DiscourseGlory and Dream of a Civilizational StateConclusion: The Logic of a Civilizational State Readership: Researchers, policy-makers, general readers interested in the rise of China, its model of development and its global impact.

Two leading experts on China evaluate its rise throughout the past one hundred fifty years, sharing portraits of key intellectual and political leaders to explain how China transformed from a country under foreign assault to a world giant.

Get the inside story from a Chinese journalist/consultant about China's surge under globalization and capitalism. This second volume of a trilogy covers (1) political-economic trends; (2) Chinese multinationals vs. global giants; (3) trade, the yuan, banking, insurance, and the stock market; and (4) issues with Taiwan, the West, India, and Japan.