An American Interest Book of the Year "Readers will not find a shrewder analysis as to why the Chinese act as they do." -Robert D. Kaplan "An outstanding contribution to our understanding of that most urgent of contemporary geopolitical questions: what does China want?" -Rana Mitter 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 a mounting 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 our age? "Written with verve and insight, this will become the go-to book for anyone interested in the foundations of China's grand strategy under Communist rule." -Odd Arne Westad, author of The Cold War "Khan's brilliant analysis will help policymakers understand the critical rise of China...Crucial if we are to avoid conflict with this emerging superpower." -Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO "Khan argues that since before the People's Republic of China's founding, Chinese rulers have held remarkably consistent objectives, even as their definition of security has expanded." -Mira Rapp-Hooper, War on the Rocks

In 1959, the Dalai Lama fled Lhasa, leaving the People's Republic of China with a crisis on its Tibetan frontier. Sulmaan Wasif Khan tells the story of the PRC's response to that crisis and, in doing so, brings to life an extraordinary cast of characters: Chinese diplomats appalled by sky burials, Guomindang spies working with Tibetans in Nepal, traders carrying salt across the Himalayas, and Tibetan Muslims rioting in Lhasa. What Chinese policymakers confronted in Tibet, Khan argues, was not a ""third world"" but a ""fourth world"" problem: Beijing was dealing with peoples whose ways were defined by statelessness. As it sought to tighten control over the restive borderlands, Mao's China moved from a lighter hand to a harder, heavier imperial structure. That change triggered long-lasting shifts in Chinese foreign policy. Moving from capital cities to far-flung mountain villages, from top diplomats to nomads crossing disputed boundaries in search of pasture, this book shows Cold War China as it has never been seen before and reveals the deep influence of the Tibetan crisis on the political fabric of present-day China.