Ebook: The Fire of Dragon: China’s New Cold War

Under President Xi Jinping, China’s global ambitions have taken a dangerous new turn. Bullying has replaced diplomacy, and China is increasingly willing to use coercion to get its way. Trade, investment, even big-spending tourists and students have been weaponised. The Communist Party believes it is fighting an ideological war on multiple fronts and is acting with increasing belligerence and impunity. China’s goal of ‘recovering’ Taiwan – regarded as a renegade province since the end of the civil war in 1949 – is one of the obvious flashpoints for a Third World War, but its aggressive foreign policy is playing out in multiple locations. Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia are increasingly beholden to China; the border clash with India in 2020 was the most serious since 1962; and its neo-colonial enterprises in Africa have created ever-increasing indebtedness and dependence. In this thought-provoking and alarming book, veteran China specialist and foreign correspondent Ian Williams examines how China’s aggressive foreign policy is arguably the biggest threat to our security and is a problem that not just the West – but the rest of the world – ignores at its peril.