A New Era of Risk

China is at the centre of a perfect storm of new risks to the global system, international economy and climate. Yet the author argues that the West’s binary geopolitical and geoeconomic thinking is catastrophizing risks and simultaneously failing to develop adequate responses to the complexity of the disruptions underway. The book draws upon a wide range of research interviews with international experts, stakeholders and practitioners to comprehend the rise of China in an important series of case studies, and points to the need for a new, sustainable internationalism that proportionately manages risks and builds interdependence, rather than driving binary conflict.

The concept of sustainable internationalism draws on confidence in Asia that a new cooperative security and globalization can be achieved, such as argued by Kishore Mahbubani, Stephen Roach and others. The book presents important new political risk research on diverse case studies of China’s new forms of interdependence, from an multilateral institution, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and a communications technology firm, Huawei, to Belt and Road infrastructure projects in South East Asia and across Eurasia.