Haunted by Chaos: China’s Grand Strategy from Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping

Before the Communists came to power, China lay broken. Today it is a global force, but its leaders are haunted by the past. Sulmaan Wasif Khan chronicles the grand strategies that have sought to protect China from aggression and ensure it would never again experience the powerlessness of the late Qing and Republican eras.

Table of Contents:
Contents Maps Introduction 1. Forging Great China 2. Mao Zedong and the Balance of Power 3. Deng Xiaoping and Seeking Truth from Facts 4. Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, and the Virtue of Dullness 5. Xi Jinping and the Insecurity of Power Conclusion Notes ​ Further Reading Acknowledgments ​ Index

Review :
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: A World History Khan's brilliant analysis will help policymakers understand the critical rise of China in the twenty-first century. He has written the essential guidebook to the evolution of China's strategy--crucial if we are to avoid conflict with this emerging superpower. -- Admiral James Stavridis, U.S. Navy (Ret.), former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO Haunted by Chaos is an ambitious and masterful study. In seeking to crack the 'operational code' of successive Chinese leaders, Khan argues that they all have been deeply driven by a profound sense of national insecurity. His book is a useful reminder that for all of China's apparent strengths today, its fragilities and insecurities continue--a paradox worth watching as Beijing becomes a world power. -- David Shambaugh, author of China's Future By emphasizing geography, Khan has unraveled the mystery of Chinese grand strategy, showing why insecurity lies at the root of Chinese power projection. A wise and seasoned book; 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 [A] fine survey of Chinese grand strategy. -- Richard Aldous American Interest The foreign policy cognoscenti in Washington have spent the past three years in a collective China reckoning, based in part on the presumption that China's foreign policy has radically changed. Kahn 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 An authoritative treatment of Chinese statecraft since Mao Zedong...Given China's outsize presence on the world stage, Khan's insights into the underlying rationale of its leadership will afford his own effort an audience beyond the field of international relations. -- Publishers Weekly Useful for decision-makers who might not understand that Beijing's grand strategy is structural and firm and will not be charmed away or pared back by trade deals. -- Choice An outstanding contribution to our understanding of that most urgent of contemporary geopolitical questions: what does China want? Khan shows that Chinese grand strategy has always been a blend of ideology and pragmatism--sometimes skillful, sometimes careless, but always crucial to understanding global history and politics. -- Rana Mitter, author of Forgotten Ally: China's World War II, 1937-1945