China's Global Ambitions: A Reality Check

Perhaps no other topic agitates the contemporary strategic imagination more than the implications of Chinas rise — not just for the future of the ruling elite in Beijing but also for Asia including India North America Africa Europe Latin America. In the recent past apprehension about Chinese President Xi Jinpings ambitions has given way to another sentiment that China may be inching toward overreach—both economic as well as geopolitical—as public opinion across many Western democracies and even non-Western democracies snowball into China skepticism if not antagonism. Discomfort on China is on rise even in some authoritarian states. If superpower status is China’s desired goal there are two roads it might take to try to obtain that. The first is the one that runs through Chinas neighbourhood—South Asia & the Western Pacific. It should focus on building regional primacy as a springboard to global power. The second road is very different because it seems to defy the historical laws of strategy and geopolitics. This approach focuses on developing China’s economic diplomatic and political influence on a global scale. The emerging conventional wisdom holds that China will try to establish global influence by first establishing regional hegemony. As China builds economic power through these efforts it will sharpen its capacity to convert that power into geopolitical influence including in its neighbourhood in South Asia SE Asia East Asia Eurasia Pacific Africa and Latin America. Even North and Central Americas are not immune from the Chinese influence. To capture China’s soaring ambitions Chardik a leading publishing house from Bangladesh has joined hands with Har-Anand Publications one of India’s leading publishers to bring this volume that is unique in style as it is a collection of essays by experts from various continents narrating tales of Chinese designs and goals in their respective regions and key issues of the day. This book is an attempt to narrate impact implications of the global rise of China with a goal to create informed public opinion.