Review: Where is China Strategy Under Xi Jinping Headed?

As Trump-Xi summitry plays out, a new book examines the future of China's strategy and efforts to counter it in areas such as the Global South and Taiwan.

As Trump-Xi summitry plays out, a new book examines the future of China’s strategy and efforts to counter it in areas such as the Global South and Taiwan.

WonkCount: 1,357 words (~6 minutes)

Review: Where is China Strategy Under Xi Jinping Headed?

Source: X/The White House

Context

“It should be a race of catching up with one another, not a wrestle in which one either wins or loses,” China President Xi Jinping noted in remarks delivered on U.S.-China competition a few hours ago at a White House arrival ceremony as part of scheduled summitry with U.S. President Donald Trump¹. The remarks were just the latest datapoint in evolving ties between the two powers after recent engagements Xi had participated in earlier this month including the BRICS Summit in New Delhi that also featured several Southeast Asian states².

Select Key Recent US-China Related Developments Amid Latest Round of Summitry

Source: Graphic by ASEAN Wonk Team

A new book China’s Global Strategy Under Xi Jinping by scholars Steve Tsang and Olivia Cheung examines the future of China’s evolving worldview and efforts to counter it in areas such as the Global South, Taiwan and technology³. In doing so, it adds to a series of recent books that have focused on the strategic outlook of Xi’s China and the implications for the world and regions within the Indo-Pacific such as Southeast Asia, including ones we have previously reviewed here on ASEAN Wonk such as former Australia prime minister Kevin Rudd’s On Xi Jinping. “Failing to offer a positive vision to counter China’s offer only increases the vulnerability of the existing international order,” the book cautions in its postscript chapter before outlining what a range of counteractions may include⁴.

Analysis

The book also highlights key policy datapoints and implications (see originally-generated ASEAN Wonk table below for a summary of important contours. Paying subscribers can also read the rest of the “Analysis” section and “Implications” section looking at how these dynamics play out in the future).

Future Policy Implications to Watch, Alongside Strategy Components and Key Major Tendencies