#Non-fiction The Long Game

DECEMBER

by Rush Doshi (no photo)

Finish date: 01 December 2022
Genre: non-fiction (audio 18 hr 24 min)
Rating: B
Review: The Long Game (ISBN: 97801975527917)

 

Good news: I had to sift the text (Doshi likes to use a waterfall of words…) and picked out the “core message” China’s grand strategy to displace American order. It is a pleasure to sweep through years of China-USA relations with such a special guide as Rush Doshi. He is USA’s go-to-guy about China. I saw him in the news sitting next to Biden during his meeting with Xi Jinping at the G20.

 

Bad news: Huge book and I found listening to the audio version helped me “push on” each day. I popped my air buds in after my shower…and had Xi Jinping with my smoothie, toast and coffee. That is all I could absorb. (1 hr listening)

 

Good news: Too much history to go into detail in this short review but let me say ch 1-3 is historical backdrop – ch 5-6 explains how China bided its time blunting USA at every turn (military, politics, economy). Now the book gets MORE interesting: ch 7 reveals that China is moving on to building (regional alliances and expanding naval forces). Ch 7-13 The words really sink in b/c I’m living in this timeline and the power behind it is NO stranger….it is Xi Jinping!

 

Personal: The guiding philosophy of China’s foreign policy was “keep a low profile” Well, those days are over and Xi is ready to fight (Taiwan)! Don’t be fooled when you see Xi who resembles Winnie-the-Pooh...he is flexing his muscles onder that suit jacket. He even dismissed Canada’s Justin Trudeau as a “boy” at the G20. This book is so interesting…but you have to WANT to read it. The book reads like a college text…..the three classifications of this, the four theories of that, the six components of the other thing, Doshi could have  woven a little bit of a story flow into this to make it  interesting. But I still can use all that I learned to decipher China’s “chess moves”. Believe me, Xi is playing The Long Game!