The Long Game

China's Grand Strategy to Displace American Order

De: Rush Doshi

Narrado por: Kyle Tait

In The Long Game, Rush Doshi draws from a rich base of Chinese primary sources, including decades worth of party documents, leaked materials, memoirs by party leaders, and a careful analysis of China's conduct to provide a history of China's grand strategy since the end of the Cold War.

Taking listeners behind the Party's closed doors, he uncovers Beijing's long, methodical game to displace America from its hegemonic position in both the East Asia regional and global orders through three sequential "strategies of displacement." Beginning in the 1980s, China focused for two decades on "hiding capabilities and biding time." After the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, it became more assertive regionally, following a policy of "actively accomplishing something." Finally, in the aftermath populist elections of 2016, China shifted to an even more aggressive strategy for undermining US hegemony, adopting the phrase "great changes unseen in century."

After charting how China's long game has evolved, Doshi offers a comprehensive yet asymmetric plan for an effective US response. Ironically, his proposed approach takes a page from Beijing's own strategic playbook to undermine China's ambitions and strengthen American order without competing dollar-for-dollar, ship-for-ship, or loan-for-loan.

©2021 Rush Doshi (P)2022 Kalorama

well researched and solid thesis, if a bit dry

a lot of good stuff here. but also fairly dry for several chapters. I skipped probably like 15% of the book as I felt like I understood the gist of the argument and didn't need the further detail. but still very worth a read or skim if you want to have a better framework for viewing china's history and future actions.

Interesting content, awful performance

Content is interesting and well documented, but the book could have been half as long driving home the same points. The performance of the reader is awful, any AI would have done better. The reader seems a robot, but unlike a robot that can be trained to say Chinese names and words, the reader obviously can't. And since he is reading a book on... China(!) these names/words tend to show up often. But, obviously, no one vetted the product.

comprehensive, somewhat repetitive, good reading

A comprehensive examination of China's strategy against the United States and its allies. This book, while frequently repetitive, lays out a compelling framework, drawing on a wide array of official documents (mostly in Chinese) and many that are not publicly available to present analysis of China's behaviours and their integration into its grand strategy.

Much of the analysis was fascinating, insightful, and provided a new perspective that was not based on a small number of but compelling data points.

The author's conclusion on engaging with China is particularly clear, in the context of neither accommodating nor changing her, and thus a strategic competition is required. The author proposes that the US take an asymmetric approach to blunt China's ascendancy, which is consistent with Kevin Rudd's own assessment and suggestions on 'geo strategic competition.'

No Trust China

Amazingly researched. Learned so much. Recommend to every American if we can get them off their TikTok.

A methodical look at the strategic moves of both the US & Chinese state craft to reshape the 21st century.

I appreciated the author's structure and ability to clarify points that are often mistaken or missed by the general public conversation around China and US relations.