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A while back, I asked my followers to suggest books on PRC influence abroad, and received a large number of recommendations. For those interested, I thought I'd share my resulting summer syllabus here. First, a few I've read already, followed by those I plan to read. (thread) 1/x
First up, one of my favorite academic books: Ching Kwan Lee's The Specter of Global China. An ethnography of Chinese businesses in Africa, it usefully complexifies China's influence, arguing it isn't so different from other global actors. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo22657847.html 2/x
Underappreciated but helpful: James To's Qiaowu: Extra-Territorial Policies for the Overseas Chinese. China's diaspora policy is central to its influence; James is one of few I've seen who spoke to officials in China about it. https://brill.com/view/title/21636 3/x
Philippe Le Corre & Alain Sepulchre, China's Offensive in Europe. Recently translated, it offers a wealth of useful details about Chinese businesses' actions in Europe; read in context. Many of the behaviors we're just noticing are not at all new. https://www.brookings.edu/book/chinas-offensive-in-europe/ 4/x
Now onto those book I haven't read yet, but want to! (In no particular order.) For a long view of the US-China relationship, @jamespomfret 's The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom has long been on my list. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781429944120 5/x
For what by many accounts is a riveting case study of Chinese espionage, @MaraHvistendahl 's new The Scientist and the Spy. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/549962/the-scientist-and-the-spy-by-mara-hvistendahl/ 6/x
On China's enormous, expanding presence in Africa, @hofrench 's China's Second Continent. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/213738/chinas-second-continent-by-howard-w-french/ 7/x
On the rise of China and India in global oil markets and how they "established new international oil empires in Sudan," Luke Patey's The New Kings of Crude. https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/the-new-kings-of-crude/ 8/x
Hidden Hand: Exposing How the Chinese Communist Party is Reshaping the World, by @CliveCHamilton and @MareikeOhlberg, which focuses on political subversion and potential threats to democracies. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Hidden-Hand/Clive-Hamilton/9781786077837 9/x
For a look at Canada, which isn't usually at the fore of these discussions, Jonathan Manthorpe's Claws of the Panda: Beijing's Campaign of Influence and Intimidation in Canada. https://www.cormorantbooks.com/claws-of-the-panda 10/x
And I somehow missed @PekingMike & @hjesanderson's 2013 book, China's Superbank: Debt, Oil and Influence. As @BethanyAllenEbr and others have noted, following the money is crucial to understanding China's influence. https://www.wiley.com/en-us/China%27s+Superbank%3A+Debt%2C+Oil+and+Influence+How+China+Development+Bank+is+Rewriting+the+Rules+of+Finance-p-9781118176382 12/x
In a similar vein, @DinnyMcMahon's China's Great Wall of Debt (2018) comes highly recommended; @mcgregorrichard blurbed it as "a superb, grassroots tour through the underworld of Chinese finance." https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/titles/dinny-mcmahon/chinas-great-wall-of-debt/9781408710333/ 13/x
For a higher-level view of China's foreign economic policy in a political-science theoretical framework, William J. Norris's Chinese Economic Statecraft: Commercial Actors, Grand Strategy, and State Control looks very helpful. https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501725913/chinese-economic-statecraft/#bookTabs=1 14/x
From one of the pioneers on this topic, @Anne_MarieBrady (who sadly appears to have blocked me), Making the Foreign Serve China, which zeroes in on how the PRC conceptualizes and treats "foreigners," both in China itself and abroad. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781461704751/Making-the-Foreign-Serve-China-Managing-Foreigners-in-the-People's-Republic 15/x
A broader take on Eurasia's politics, Kent E. Calder's Super Continent: The Logic of Eurasian Integration looks entirely fascinating; it argues "the geo-economic logic that prevailed across Eurasia before Columbus..is reasserting itself once again." https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=3085516/x 16/x
Available July 15, @emekaumejei's Chinese Media in Africa: Perception, Performance, and Paradox, looks very helpful. @MariaRepnikova says it "illuminates the dynamic voices of African journalists within Chinese media." https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498593977/Chinese-Media-in-Africa-Perception-Performance-and-Paradox 17/x
From @PLMattis & @matthew_brazil, Chinese Communist Espionage looks to be an invaluable look at China's intelligence apparatus; @orvilleschell described it as a "painstakingly researched and very detailed effort to pierce the veil of Chinese opacity." https://www.usni.org/press/books/chinese-communist-espionage 18/x
For a bird's-eye survey of China's rise, David Shambaugh's (2013) China Goes Global: The Partial Power, which @TheEconomist describes as a "fascinating and scholarly challenge to the received wisdom about China's rise." https://global.oup.com/academic/product/china-goes-global-9780199860142?cc=us&lang=en& 19/x
For an explicit focus on PRC ideology and how it has traveled around and influenced the world, Julia Lovell's Maoism: A Global History looks excellent. (Thanks @AlexDukalskis for reminding me of it!) https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/602335/maoism-by-julia-lovell/ 20/x
