China’s Eurasian Dilemmas

Roads and Risks for a Sustainable Global Power

R. James Ferguson, Director, Centre for East-West Cultural and Economic Studies and Assistant Professor, Faculty of Society and Design, Bond University, Australia

Providing a timely analysis of China’s engagement with Eurasia, R. James Ferguson focuses on the challenges obstructing China’s path to becoming a sustainable global power. Engagement across Eurasia presents China, its leaders and policymakers with intensified contact with regional and national conflicts, posing environmental, developmental and strategic dilemmas.

‘... a timely book that observes China’s grand transition strategy and its impact on Eurasia. Amid the many books and articles concerning both the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and China’s global strategies under Xi Jinping’s leadership, the most distinctive insight in Ferguson’s monograph is his description of the seminal but silent shift of Beijing’s diplomatic orientation from the Pacific Ocean to Asia’s inner regions. From a thematic perspective, the book comprehensively covers issues concerning security, human rights,
energy, the environment, trade, investment, and regional institutions. In conclusion, given its comprehensive content and innovative perspective of understanding China’s global ambition through its strategic “Eurasian Turn”, this book will be a helpful reference for students and scholars studying international relations, especially with regard to China and Eurasia. It can also be recommended to readers who are interested in China’s changing geopolitical strategies and its relations with partners both near and far on the Eurasian continent.’
– Xiaoguang Wang, Europe-Asia Studies

‘This book is a goldmine for understanding the historical context, geopolitical dynamics and economic motivation for the rise of China and its reclaiming of footprints in Eurasia including China's Belt and Road initiative, ambitious foreign economic development and infrastructure projects in the 21st Century. James Ferguson provides a comprehensive and thoughtful look at the rise of China's role in Eurasia and beyond. This is a must read for any scholar who studies the historical, political and economic links among China and Eurasian countries and the rest of the world.’
– Xiaohua Yang, University of San Francisco, US

‘China’s engagement with Eurasia remains overshadowed by the US-China dimensions of the emerging 21st century global order. Ironically, China’s management of Eurasian affairs is the central proving ground, and opportunity, for realization of an alternate model of relations that could harmoniously accommodate the globe’s great states. Ferguson’s detailed and insightful analysis of China’s Eurasian dilemmas establishes critically needed space for considering the global implications of this neglected region.’
– Brett McCormick, University of New Haven, US

一个大胆的尝试执行ance. R. James Ferguson compellingly guides the reader to a nuanced understanding of the background of China’s engagement with Eurasia, focusing on major issues that are emerging in the 21st Century, all the while filling an important gap in the literature on the Eurasian aspects of China’s evolution into a global power. This thoughtful book will provide generalists and specialists alike a better understanding of the multidimensionality of issues related to global security.’
– Joseph M. Siracusa, RMIT University, Australia