Overreach: How China Derailed its Peaceful Rise | Susan Shirk

For three decades after Mao’s death in 1976, China’s leaders adopted a restrained approach to foreign policy. They determined that any threat to their power, and that of the Chinese Communist Party, came not from abroad but from within—a conclusion cemented by the 1989 Tiananmen crisis. To facilitate the country’s inexorable economic ascendance, and to prevent a backlash, they reassured the outside world of China’s peaceful intentions.

Then something changed. China went from a fragile superpower to a global heavyweight, threatening Taiwan as well as its neighbours in the South China Sea, tightening its grip on Hong Kong, and openly challenging the United States for preeminence not just economically and technologically but militarily.

Susan Shirk, former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and Founding Chair of the 21st Century China Center at UC San Diego, discusses her book, “Overreach: How China Derailed Its Peaceful Rise”, which examines how China’s political system affects the nation’s global aspirations.

Joining the conversation is Rana Mitter, Director of the University China Centre, who has been a previous speaker of the Institute discussing his recent book ‘China’s Good War: How WWII is Shaping a New Nationalism’.

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