China Goes Global: The Partial Power, with David Shambaugh

Asia Society Northern California is pleased to host eminent China scholar David Shambaugh, whose new book China Goes Global delves deep into China's extensive commercial footprint, growing military power, increasing cultural influence and diplomatic activity, and new prominence in multilateral institutions.

Thirty years ago, China’s role in global affairs beyond its immediate neighborhood was minor and the nation had little geostrategic influence. Today, China has extended its reach virtually everywhere — to mineral mines in Africa, currency markets in the West, oilfields in the Middle East, agribusiness in Latin America, and factories throughout East Asia.

Asia Society Northern California is pleased to host eminent China scholar David Shambaugh, whose new book China Goes Global delves deep into China’s extensive commercial footprint, growing military power, increasing cultural influence and diplomatic activity, and new prominence in multilateral institutions. But Shambaugh also argues that China’s global presence is more broad than deep and that the country remains a “partial power,” lacking the influence befitting a world power. Join Shambaugh, along with UC Berkeley’s veteran China watcher Thomas B. Gold, as they discuss Shambaugh’s new book and explore China’s current and future roles in world affairs.

Copies of China Goes Global will be available for purchase and signing!

David Shambaugh is Professor of Political Science and International Affairs and Director of the China Policy Program at George Washington University. His most recent books include Charting China’s Future: Domestic & International Challenges; China’s Communist Party: Atrophy and Adaptation; International Politics of Asia; and Power Shift: China and Asia’s New Dynamics. Shambaugh previously served as editor of The China Quarterly, the world’s leading journal of contemporary Chinese studies.

Thomas B. Gold is Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley. Gold has just returned to the U.S. from a sabbatical at Fudan University in Shanghai. His most recent book (with William Hurst, Jaeyoun Won, and Li Qiang) is Laid-Off Workers in a Workers’ State: Unemployment With Chinese Characteristics. He is also the author of the forthcoming Remaking Taiwan: Society and the State Since the End of Martial Law.

“David Shambaugh provides a thoughtful look at the nature and consequences of China's rise in this carefully researched and well-written volume.”
— Henry A. Kissinger