Haunted by Chaos: China’s Grand Strategy from Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping, With a New Afterword

An American Interest Book of the Year

“Khan has unraveled the mystery of Chinese grand strategy, showing why insecurity lies at the root of Chinese power projection…Readers will not find a shrewder analysis as to why the Chinese act as they do.”
—Robert D. Kaplan, author of The Revenge of Geography

“The essential guidebook to the evolution of China’s strategy—crucial if we are to avoid conflict with this emerging superpower.”
—Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO

“An outstanding contribution to our understanding of that most urgent of contemporary geopolitical questions: what does China want?”
—Rana Mitter, author of Forgotten Ally

Before the Chinese Communist Party came to power, China lay broken and fragmented. Today it dominates the global stage, and yet its leaders have continued to be haunted by the past.

Analyzing the calculus behind decision making at the highest levels, Sulmaan Wasif Khan explores how China’s leaders have harnessed diplomatic, military, and economic power to keep a fragile country safe in a hostile world. At once shrewd and dangerous, Mao Zedong made China whole and succeeded in keeping it so while the caustic Deng Xiaoping dragged China into the modern world. Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao were cautious custodians of Deng’s legacy, but Xi Jinping has shown an assertiveness that has raised concern across the globe.

China’s grand strategies, while costly, have been largely successful. But will this time-tested approach be enough to tackle the looming threats of the twenty-first century?