China's Western Horizon : Beijing and the New Geopolitics of Eurasia

World news headlines routinely proclaim China''s status as a great power. But when it comes to explaining how new Chinese efforts to exercise global leadership, like the vaunted "Belt and Road Initiative," are likely to affect regional politics or play into the competition between the United States and China, sophisticated answers can be hard to find. In China''s Western Horizon, scholar and former U.S. State Department policy planner, Daniel S. Markey, draws from extensive interviews, travels, and historical research to assess what China is doing, to explain how states along the historic Silk Road that once knitted Eurasia together are turning Chinese initiatives to their own purposes, and to offer thoughtful recommendations for U.S. policymakers.

A crucial assessment of how global and regional politics converge in the swath of Eurasia that includes South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East.Under the ambitious leadership of President Xi Jinping, China is transforming its wealth and economic power into tools of global political influence. But China''s foreign policy initiatives, even "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 previews how China''s efforts are likely to play out along its "western horizon:" across the swath of Eurasia that includes South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East. Drawing from extensive interviews, travels, and historical research, Markey describes how perceptions of China vary widely within states such as Pakistan, Kazakhstan, and Iran. 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 along China''s western horizon (and elsewhere), he argues that US policymakers should pursue a selective and localized strategy to serve America''s specific aims in Eurasia and to better compete with China over the long run.