Under the ambitious leadership of President Xi Jinping, China is zealously transforming its wealth and economic power into potent tools of global political influence. But China's foreign policy initiatives, even the vaunted "Belt and Road," will be shaped and redefined as they confront the ground realities of local and regional politics outside China. In China's Western Horizon, Daniel S. Markey, a scholar of international relations and former member of the U.S. State Department's policy planning staff, previews how China's efforts are likely to play out in its own "backyard:" the swath of Eurasia that includes South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East. Drawing from his extensive interviews, travels, and historical research, Markey describes how perceptions of China vary widely within states like Pakistan, Kazakhstan, and Iran. The region's powerful and privileged groups often expect to profit from their connections to China, while others fear commercial and political losses. Similarly, statesmen across Eurasia are scrambling to harness China's energy purchases, arms sales, and infrastructure investments as a means to outdo their strategic competitors, like India and Saudi Arabia, while negotiating relations with Russia and America. On balance, Markey anticipates that China's deepening involvement will play to the advantage of regional strongmen and exacerbate the political tensions within and among Eurasian states. To make the most of America's limited influence in China's backyard (and elsewhere), he argues that U.S. policymakers should pursue a selective and localized strategy to serve America's aims in Eurasia and to better compete with China over the long run.

About the Author
Daniel S. Markey is a senior research professor at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and the academic director of the SAIS Global Policy Program. From 2007-2015, he was senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations. While there, he wrote a book on the future of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, No Exit from Pakistan. From 2003 to 2007, Dr. Markey held the South Asia portfolio on the Secretary's Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. Department of State.

Reviews
Markey's brilliant book is the go to policy guide for the steps the U.S. must avoid to manage its strategic competition with China. * Rabia Akhtar, Asian Affairs *
[An] important contribution to the growing literature on China's rise and the impending geopolitical competition between China and the US. * M. E. Carranza, CHOICE *
Deeply informed. * Andrew J. Nathan, Foreign Affairs *
... a must read for foreign service personnel and scholars working on international relations from the US. * Davide Giacomo Zoppolato, Eurasian Geography and Economics *
[This book] makes important contributions to our understanding of the processes and outcomes of China's unprecedented and growing involvement in countries far beyond its western borders.... Markey's nuanced discussion of the soft competition between Beijing and Moscow is fascinating and on point.... China's Western Horizon is a tour d'horizon and should be required reading for anyone grappling with the enormity of America's China challenge-whether they sit in Carlisle Barracks, Camp Smith, MacDill Air Force Base, the Pentagon, or elsewhere. * Parameters *
This nuanced, powerful appraisal signifies how China's neighbors are both being pulled in the fray and are cajoling the Chinese.... a must-read for those who want to demystify China and its strategic allure. * Pakistan Politico *
Markey's impressive and well-researched book is a must-read for anyone trying to decipher China's uneasy path as it moves beyond its region into the contested waters of the Middle East and South Asia... As such, this book is a welcome addition to the emerging literature on China's foreign policy under Xi Jinping. * Ray Takeyh, Survival *
Daniel Markey's remarkable and timely new book, China's Western Horizon: Beijing and the New Geopolitics of Eurasia,...is significant for the agency it recognizes in local actors shaping BRI's scope, for the focus it brings to Beijing's continental aims, and for the common tensions it draws together across a broad region. * Elizabeth Threlkeld, Asia Policy *
With eloquence, sagacity and rigor, Markey describes the interactive effects that China's growing presence in South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle-East has on local realities. Beijing's active deployment of diplomatic, economic, and security instruments is already giving shape to anew regional landscape in which the US will have to adapt, and perhaps rethink, its role. * Nadege Rolland, author of China's Eurasian Century *
A far-reaching and important primer that is filled with insights about the world of today and tomorrow, Markey's fine book is essential reading for anyone interested in international affairs. * Peter Frankopan, Professor of Global History, Worcester College, University of Oxford *
The Chinese leadership nurtures great ambitions on its Western periphery, well beyond its traditional East and South-Asian horizons. But, local countries have their own strategic agendas,their own political and socio-economic conditions, and their own vision for their present and future selves. With eloquence, sagacity and rigor, Markey describes theinteractiveeffects that China's growing presence inSouth Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle-East has on local realities. Beijing's active deployment of diplomatic, economic, and security instruments is already giving shape to anew regional landscape in which the US will have to adapt, and perhaps rethink, its role. * Nadege Rolland, author of China's Eurasian Century *
This is a first-rate guide to the deepening post-Cold War profile of China on the Eurasian continent. Markey shows the strengths and weaknesses of China's Belt and Road Initiative, especially along the strategic access routes from Beijing to the Persian Gulf. Documenting China's quiet yet steadily rising Eurasian presence and its global implications, Markey highlights the region's historic transformation. * Kent Calder, Vice Dean, and Director of the Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies, Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies *
Amidst a wave of books about China's Belt and Road that emphasize Beijing's global vision for a new international order, China's Western Horizon skillfully reveals how local actors across Eurasia have seized upon and manipulated Chinese investments and strategic engagement to advance their own domestic and regional agendas. Markey's detailed and penetrating research provides important cautionary evidence that BRI partners may 'pull' China into political entanglements with important unintended and even counterproductive consequences for Beijing * Alexander Cooley, Claire Tow Professor of Political Science, Barnard College and Director, Harriman Institute, Columbia University *
Markey's important and insightful new book makes a valuable contribution to the literature on China's expanding global presence. Casting his eye across a vast swath of continental Eurasia, Markey analyzes both the forces driving Chinese policy and the factors shaping the responses of the poorer and weaker nations in its path. Markey's research is broad as well as deep, his assessments are balanced and measured, and his conclusions will inform the thinking of scholars and policymakers alike. * Aaron L. Friedberg, Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University *



Book Information
ISBN 9780190680190
Author Daniel S. Markey
Format Hardback
Page Count 344
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 586g
Dimensions(mm) 242mm * 168mm * 28mm