China Goes Global

Eminent China scholar David Shambaugh's China Goes Global is the sweeping synthesis of that nation's growing prominence on the world stage that we have been waiting for. Thirty years ago, China's role in global affairs beyond its immediate East Asian periphery was decidedly minor. Its military was extremely weak, and it had little geostrategic power. As Shambaugh charts, though, China's expanding economic power has allowed it extend its reach and influence virtually everywhere. After establishing the main precondition—the astounding growth of the Chinese economy—Shambaugh turns his focus to the manifestations of China's global ambitions: its growing military power, characterized best by its current pursuit of a blue-water navy; its increasing cultural influence (i.e., "soft power"); and its new prominence in global governance institutions like the G-20. He is no alarmist, however. Rather, he will draw on his extremely deep knowledge of the subject to offer a balanced and well reasoned account of where China is now and where he thinks it is headed.