The World According to China - by Elizabeth C Economy (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

An economic and military superpower with 20 percent of the world's population, China has the wherewithal to transform the international system. Xi Jinping's bold calls for China to lead in the reform of the global governance system, suggest that he has just such an ambition. And his iron grip on power in the wake of the 2022 Party Congress suggests that he now has the mandate. But how does he plan to realize it? And what does it mean for the rest of the world?

In this compelling book, Elizabeth Economy reveals China's ambitious new strategy to reclaim the country's past glory and reshape the geostrategic landscape in dramatic new ways. Xi's vision is one of Chinese centrality on the global stage, in which the mainland has realized its sovereignty claims over Hong Kong, Taiwan and the South China sea, deepened its global political, economic, and security reach through its grand scale Belt and Road Initiative, and used its leadership in the United Nations and other institutions to align international norms and values, particularly around human rights, with those of China. It is a world radically different from that of today. The international community needs to understand and respond to the great risks and and potential opportunities of presented by this transformative vision.

Also available as an audiobook.

Review Quotes

"... authoritative."
The Observer

"Economy has written a deeply informed book that serves as a wake-up call to the United States and the world."
Washington Post

"Economy's book is superb. It is well-written, well-researched, and notably balanced in its presentation of China's policies and the effects of these policies' implementation."
Joshua Huminski, The Diplomatic Courier

"The World According to China is the best book I've read on the country's push for a new Sino-centric world order. In one accessible work the reader gets a thorough and balanced understanding across multiple regions and domains."
Bookish Asia

"Extremely well informed, cogently argued and deftly structured, with intelligent prescriptions."
SupChina

"The World According to China balances being densely packed with information and insights while remaining highly readable. The result is a sweeping, much-needed crash course in how Beijing views the world right now, and vice versa."
Nikkei Asia

"In this marvelous (and sobering) book, Elizabeth Economy dissects China's grand strategy: a Sino-centric world order across all domains, with military and power projection to match. Western bromides will not counter China's determination."
Charlene Barshefsky, Chair, Parkside Global Advisors and Former US Trade Representative

"If you want to understand the most important competition of this century, read The World According to China. Elizabeth Economy illuminates the Chinese Communist Party's grand ambition and forces us to confront the reality that if it succeeds, our world will be less free, less prosperous, and less safe."
H.R. McMaster, author of Dereliction of Duty and Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World

"In this brilliant, urgent analysis, Elizabeth Economy proves once again why she is one of the most important scholars of China in a generation. With a penetrating vision for the motives obscured by the official boilerplate, she makes a convincing case for the degree to which China seeks to transform the international system."
Evan Osnos, author of Age of Ambition, winner of the National Book Award

"This is a well-researched and cogently written book that explains how China under Xi Jinping engages the world. It provides a convincing account of how China uses all means available, conventional and unconventional, to make China great again."
Steve Tsang, SOAS China Institute

"Having long revered Elizabeth Economy's China expertise, I had lofty expectations. After reading this book, my admiration for her only amplified. Thoroughly researched, Economy's analysis of Xi's - and thus China's - view of the world both engages and educates. A must-read!"
Chris Fenton, author of Feeding the Dragon

"Employing her trademark thoroughness, clarity, and insight, Elizabeth Economy probes deeply into China's ambitions and actions to reorder the world order. Business leaders must read this book as inducing and coercing multinationals to go along is an indispensable part of China achieving success."
James McGregor, Chairman of Greater China for APCO Worldwide

"Elizabeth Economy is one of the world's most astute interpreters of contemporary China. Here she examines domestic and international politics under Xi Jinping to explain why a more assertive and powerful China will raise questions that the west must urgently answer. Essential reading for all those who need to understand today's China."
Rana Mitter, University of Oxford

"The World According to China captures effectively the range of challenges contemporary China poses for the international order. Engaging and incisive, the patterns of behavior it reveals provide much-needed insight into the nature of China's current and future role on the global stage."
Robert Sutter, George Washington University

About the Author

Elizabeth C. Economy, on leave from her position as senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, is Senior Advisor (for China) to the Secretary of Commerce. Previously she was C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director for Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is an award-winning author and internationally renowned expert on Chinese domestic and foreign policy and US-China relations. Her books The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State, By All Means Necessary: How China's Resource Quest is Changing the World (with Michael Levi), and The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China's Future (2nd edition) are widely acclaimed and her writings have appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. A frequent guest on nationally broadcast radio and television, she has testified before Congress on US-China-related matters. Politico Magazine has named her one of "The 10 Names That Matter on China Policy".