Beijing Rules

The definitive book on the Chinese Communist Party's extensive campaign over the last two decades to take the pole position of global dominance.

For several decades Chinese ascendancy has been supported by an astonishingly broad and deep portfolio of soft power. The stories of their reach are breathtaking - Chinese-sponsored reporting in national newspapers and academia; the gagging of sports stars and huge Western brands; Hollywood self-censorship; and of course - communications firms. But these are just the most visible examples.

Beijing Rules exposes the armoury of strategies with which China has exploited Western weakness to position itself as leader in the game of nations: authoritarian economic statecraft; internationally harmful tariffs; online disinformation operations; use of private companies to spy on global users; leverage of vaccines; and the crushing of democracy in Hong Kong. With these weapons and dextrous manoeuvrings during the global pandemic, China has now positioned itself to take its place at the apex of world powers.

Bethany Allen, an internationally recognized investigator into Chinese covert power, shows Western institutions have bowed to and even enabled Beijing's coercion. As we come reeling out of a global pandemic and eyes are on a new war in Europe, this revealing analysis sounds the alarm about the most significant shift in the new world order, and what we must do to prevent the loss of freedoms we take for granted.

About the Author

Bethany Allen is the China reporter at Axios. She previously worked as the lead reporter for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists' China Cables project, as a national security correspondent for the Daily Beast, and as a reporter and editor at Foreign Policy magazine. In 2020 she received the Robert D. G. Lewis Watchdog Award and was a finalist for the Batten Medal for Courage in Journalism. A fluent Mandarin speaker, she previously lived China for four years. She now lives in Taipei.