Daring to Struggle

Increasingly powerful, prosperous and authoritarian, China under the leadership of Xi Jinping has become a more intense competitor across the globe -- economically, technologically, diplomatically, militarily, and in seeking to influence people's hearts and minds. But what does China ultimately want in the world?
In this timely and illuminating book, internationally renowned China scholar Bates Gill explains the fundamental motivations driving the country's more dynamic, assertive and risk-taking approach to the world under Xi Jinping. With original and perceptive analysis, Daring to Struggle focuses on six increasingly important interests for today's China -- legitimacy, sovereignty, wealth, power, leadership and ideas -- and details how the determined pursuit of them at home and abroad profoundly shapes its foreign relationships, contributing to a more contested strategic environment in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.
Readers will gain richer insights on: the increasing role of the Chinese Communist Party in the country's international affairs; the looming risks of conflict in areas of contested sovereignty around China's periphery; Beijing's dramatically changing approach to foreign economic relations; its expanding use of economic leverage and military coercion; China's aspirations to greater leadership in global governance; and the well-resourced promotion of its ideas, image and influence across the world.

Dr Bates Gill has a 30-year international career as an institution leader, policy advisor, consultant and educator. He is Chair of the Department of Security Studies and Criminology, Macquarie University in Sydney and Senior Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute in London.

- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Understanding China's global ambitions under Xi Jinping
- 1. Opportunities: Seeking national rejuvenation
- 2. Legitimacy: Prioritizing the Party and its rule
- 3. Sovereignty: Achieving territorial integrity and expanded "strategic frontiers"
- 4. Wealth: Pursuing national development and prosperity
- 5. Power: Leveraging China's growing economic and military might
- 6. Leadership: Gaining a greater say in how the world works
- 7. Ideas: Competing for hearts and minds around the globe
- 8. Challenges: Confronting headwinds for the China Dream
- Conclusion: A contested future
- Notes
- Index