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America Second: How America's Elites Are Making China Stronger
A timely, provocative expose of American political and business leadership's deep ties to China: a network of people who believe they are doing the right thing--at a profound and often hidden cost to U.S. interests.
The past few years have seen relations between China and the United States shift, from enthusiastic economic partners, to wary frenemies, to open rivals. Americans have been slow to wake up to the challenges posed by the Chinese Communist Party. Why did this happen? And what can we do about it?
In America Second, Isaac Stone Fish traces the evolution of the Party's influence in America. He shows how America's leaders initially welcomed China's entry into the U.S. economy, believing that trade and engagement would lead to a more democratic China. And he explains how--although this belief has proved misguided--many of our businesspeople and politicians have become too dependent on China to challenge it.
America Second exposes a deep network of Beijing's influence in America, built quietly over the years through prominent figures like former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, Disney chairman Bob Iger, and members of the Bush family. And it shows how to fight that influence-without being paranoid, xenophobic, or racist. This is an authoritative and important story of corruption and good intentions gone wrong, with serious implications not only for the future of the United States, but for the world at large.
The past few years have seen relations between China and the United States shift, from enthusiastic economic partners, to wary frenemies, to open rivals. Americans have been slow to wake up to the challenges posed by the Chinese Communist Party. Why did this happen? And what can we do about it?
In America Second, Isaac Stone Fish traces the evolution of the Party's influence in America. He shows how America's leaders initially welcomed China's entry into the U.S. economy, believing that trade and engagement would lead to a more democratic China. And he explains how--although this belief has proved misguided--many of our businesspeople and politicians have become too dependent on China to challenge it.
America Second exposes a deep network of Beijing's influence in America, built quietly over the years through prominent figures like former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, Disney chairman Bob Iger, and members of the Bush family. And it shows how to fight that influence-without being paranoid, xenophobic, or racist. This is an authoritative and important story of corruption and good intentions gone wrong, with serious implications not only for the future of the United States, but for the world at large.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published February 15, 2022
21 people are currently reading
254 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Stone Fish
1 book16 followersIsaac Stone Fish is the founder and CEO of the research firm Strategy Risks, which quantifies corporate exposure to China. He is also a Washington Post Global Opinions contributing columnist, a contributor to CBSN, an adjunct at NYU's Center for Global Affairs, a visiting fellow at the Atlantic Council, and a columnist on China risk at Barron's.
Previously he served as Foreign Policy Magazine's Asia Editor: he managed coverage of the region, and wrote about the politics, economics, and international affairs of China, Japan, and North Korea. A fluent Mandarin speaker and formerly a Beijing correspondent for Newsweek, Stone Fish spent seven years living in China prior to joining Foreign Policy. He has traveled widely in the region and in the country, visiting every Chinese province, autonomous region, and municipality.
Previously he served as Foreign Policy Magazine's Asia Editor: he managed coverage of the region, and wrote about the politics, economics, and international affairs of China, Japan, and North Korea. A fluent Mandarin speaker and formerly a Beijing correspondent for Newsweek, Stone Fish spent seven years living in China prior to joining Foreign Policy. He has traveled widely in the region and in the country, visiting every Chinese province, autonomous region, and municipality.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 1, 2022
This was an outstanding read!
Pretty shocking book. I picked up this book out of human interest, and I could not put it down.
Honestly, one of the best books on China I have read in the last few years.
Don't miss this book!
Book Summary
This is an outstanding read on China, foreign policy and state-led coercion. Not only that, but this book detailed the tactics China uses to ensure their image and specific views are expressed in companies around the world.
Red Carpet
Parts of it paralleled Red Carpet: Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy that I read a couple weeks back. It actually would be an excellent companion read to this book, as it detailed some incredible stories about movie production. One that I found very eye opening was the movie based on the book of Memoirs of a Geisha - a movie I have not watched, but loved the book.
The Author
I was particularly impressed by Stone Fish's research and outstanding writing ability. Would definitely check out Isaac - I see this author going places.
Kissenger
Stone Fish does an excellent job on detailing big historic events in China-US relations, specifically on Kissenger and the impacts his activities have made.
Final Thoughts
Fascinating and concerning book.
Would highly recommend.
5.0/5
Pretty shocking book. I picked up this book out of human interest, and I could not put it down.
Honestly, one of the best books on China I have read in the last few years.
Don't miss this book!
Book Summary
This is an outstanding read on China, foreign policy and state-led coercion. Not only that, but this book detailed the tactics China uses to ensure their image and specific views are expressed in companies around the world.
Red Carpet
Parts of it paralleled Red Carpet: Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy that I read a couple weeks back. It actually would be an excellent companion read to this book, as it detailed some incredible stories about movie production. One that I found very eye opening was the movie based on the book of Memoirs of a Geisha - a movie I have not watched, but loved the book.
The Author
I was particularly impressed by Stone Fish's research and outstanding writing ability. Would definitely check out Isaac - I see this author going places.
Kissenger
Stone Fish does an excellent job on detailing big historic events in China-US relations, specifically on Kissenger and the impacts his activities have made.
Final Thoughts
Fascinating and concerning book.
Would highly recommend.
5.0/5
October 27, 2022
"America Second" is an excellent work. Using examples from popular culture, mainstream politics, and education, Isaac Stone Fish presents a compelling and complete case about the surprising reach and power of China's United Front. Fish's work is absolutely essential for any serious student of modern China, and is indispensable for anybody tasked with engaging directly with the Chinese at any level.
Mainstream American politics provides the background for most of this work. Stone Fish pulls no punches in his argument, and focuses chiefly on Henry Kissinger and the numerous conflicts of interests that have dominated his post-government career. Far from a book about a single evil mastermind, however, this book shows how the arrogance and greed of American politicians have made them easy targets for the work of the United Front. Stone Fish's argument is compelling and backed by solid research.
It seems that there is no cultural ground in the United States safe from the powerful presence of China's foreign policy reach. Stone Fish goes into great detail about the worlds of Hollywood and the NBA, and veers off slightly to talk about American corporate culture in general. The examples he cites are well-known to those who follow U.S.-Sino relations closely; of course, those with a deep interest in the subject will start counting the numerous examples that Stone Fish does not cite here. The overall effect is clear, however: the Chinese Communist Party can reach much further than we ever expected, presenting a number of challenges to the safety of our democracy and the honesty of our markets.
Stone Fish does a very good job of explaining that these issues are not the fault of the Chinese populace as a whole. He adroitly differentiates between the work of the Communist Party and the feelings and opinions of Chinese citizens at large, noting importantly that the vast majority of Chinese visitors to the United States are not spies or technology thieves. One wishes that more American politicians would realize this and adjust their rhetoric accordingly.
My only complaint about this book is the writing style, which is quite disjointed at times. It feels like Stone Fish has written a series of articles that he later compiled into chapters. Some facts are put in the wrong place: for example, we read a stray fact about music piracy in China in the Hollywood section. The flow issues and the occasional grammatical and placement issues that exist would have been easily caught by a good copy editor; their existence here is more a sad comment on the dismal state of contemporary American publishing than any knock on Stone Fish's writing abilities.
Overall, this book is excellent. I highly recommend it to anybody with a serious interest in contemporary China.
Mainstream American politics provides the background for most of this work. Stone Fish pulls no punches in his argument, and focuses chiefly on Henry Kissinger and the numerous conflicts of interests that have dominated his post-government career. Far from a book about a single evil mastermind, however, this book shows how the arrogance and greed of American politicians have made them easy targets for the work of the United Front. Stone Fish's argument is compelling and backed by solid research.
It seems that there is no cultural ground in the United States safe from the powerful presence of China's foreign policy reach. Stone Fish goes into great detail about the worlds of Hollywood and the NBA, and veers off slightly to talk about American corporate culture in general. The examples he cites are well-known to those who follow U.S.-Sino relations closely; of course, those with a deep interest in the subject will start counting the numerous examples that Stone Fish does not cite here. The overall effect is clear, however: the Chinese Communist Party can reach much further than we ever expected, presenting a number of challenges to the safety of our democracy and the honesty of our markets.
Stone Fish does a very good job of explaining that these issues are not the fault of the Chinese populace as a whole. He adroitly differentiates between the work of the Communist Party and the feelings and opinions of Chinese citizens at large, noting importantly that the vast majority of Chinese visitors to the United States are not spies or technology thieves. One wishes that more American politicians would realize this and adjust their rhetoric accordingly.
My only complaint about this book is the writing style, which is quite disjointed at times. It feels like Stone Fish has written a series of articles that he later compiled into chapters. Some facts are put in the wrong place: for example, we read a stray fact about music piracy in China in the Hollywood section. The flow issues and the occasional grammatical and placement issues that exist would have been easily caught by a good copy editor; their existence here is more a sad comment on the dismal state of contemporary American publishing than any knock on Stone Fish's writing abilities.
Overall, this book is excellent. I highly recommend it to anybody with a serious interest in contemporary China.
February 18, 2022
Informative, well-researched, and self-aware take on the CCP’s influence in America. Highly recommend.
May 25, 2022
I'm always a bit wary of how rigorous an argument is going to be when it's framed around a problem of "elites," and sadly this book did little to change that.
The basic premise -- that the actions of powerful people and institutions within the US have distorted the country's policy towards China -- is compelling enough. But the first part of the book spends a long time discussing how people running powerful consulting firms push for a certain set of policies that are not in the US's interest. The thesis is that these people have been corrupted by the Chinese. But haven't they been corrupted by the US-based capitalists that, you know, pay them to do their consulting work? There's relatively little discussion of this, or of why multinational corporations have an immense interest in China, or even of some of the major policy issues where this comes up most, like China's entrance into the WTO, and decades of subsequent trade policy.
There are lots of ways for a book to talk about China's role in the world, and the US's role in that rise. It could dig into the muddy realities of technology competition, the US desire for access to Chinese markets, the ways that the international financial system has given China immense leverage over the US public and private sector because of its immense amount of investment capital, or the schizophrenic attitude of US interests towards China, which can be alternately (or even simultaneously) sycophantic and hateful.
I came away with no new understanding of any of those issues. Instead, the author turns to a long discussion of how Hollywood and some (but not all) other US entertainment industries have been cowed into being uncritical of China. This is demonstrably true and completely embarrassing, and this book does a decent job walking through the recent, already well-documented record of this trend. But it draws some weird conclusions, like that China's power is the reason Hollywood content has been so racist over the last 20 years. I guess the author has never watched a movie from any period before then. Pretty much every single one is, by today's standards, shockingly racist towards every non-white group. (There's also a weird "I'm not racist" section at the end, where the author argues that a non-racist approach towards China could be modeled after George Bush's approach to the Muslim world after 9/11 (!!))
The most head-scratching conclusion the book draws, though, is that this media cowardice is the biggest problem in US-China relations. If Hollywood were to make more anti-Chinese movies, the author seems to argue, then the US populace would develop a more nuanced and critical view of the Chinese communist party, and everything would be better. But the Chinese government is already not popular here! The lack of public hostility is not the problem.
The basic premise -- that the actions of powerful people and institutions within the US have distorted the country's policy towards China -- is compelling enough. But the first part of the book spends a long time discussing how people running powerful consulting firms push for a certain set of policies that are not in the US's interest. The thesis is that these people have been corrupted by the Chinese. But haven't they been corrupted by the US-based capitalists that, you know, pay them to do their consulting work? There's relatively little discussion of this, or of why multinational corporations have an immense interest in China, or even of some of the major policy issues where this comes up most, like China's entrance into the WTO, and decades of subsequent trade policy.
There are lots of ways for a book to talk about China's role in the world, and the US's role in that rise. It could dig into the muddy realities of technology competition, the US desire for access to Chinese markets, the ways that the international financial system has given China immense leverage over the US public and private sector because of its immense amount of investment capital, or the schizophrenic attitude of US interests towards China, which can be alternately (or even simultaneously) sycophantic and hateful.
I came away with no new understanding of any of those issues. Instead, the author turns to a long discussion of how Hollywood and some (but not all) other US entertainment industries have been cowed into being uncritical of China. This is demonstrably true and completely embarrassing, and this book does a decent job walking through the recent, already well-documented record of this trend. But it draws some weird conclusions, like that China's power is the reason Hollywood content has been so racist over the last 20 years. I guess the author has never watched a movie from any period before then. Pretty much every single one is, by today's standards, shockingly racist towards every non-white group. (There's also a weird "I'm not racist" section at the end, where the author argues that a non-racist approach towards China could be modeled after George Bush's approach to the Muslim world after 9/11 (!!))
The most head-scratching conclusion the book draws, though, is that this media cowardice is the biggest problem in US-China relations. If Hollywood were to make more anti-Chinese movies, the author seems to argue, then the US populace would develop a more nuanced and critical view of the Chinese communist party, and everything would be better. But the Chinese government is already not popular here! The lack of public hostility is not the problem.
March 22, 2022
America Second
Isaac Stone Fish.
America Second, How America’s Elites are Making China Stronger is a thoroughly and exhaustively researched book. Isaac deserves recognition for the research he has done to support his conclusions. People my age remember China - the bad country. China, the country of the evil Dr. Fu Manchu on the radio. We remember the controversial Mao Tse Tung who unified China and committed it to Communist Party rule and who also caused the abuse of intellectuals and the starvation of millions of his own people. We remember that China supported North Korea spawning movies like “The Manchurian Candidate.” We remember the massacre of protesters in Tiananmen Square; protesters standing in front of tanks. We remember when China embodied all that we feared and hated in a totalitarian state. Then there was Nixon, and Kissinger, and detente and cooperation and trade, and the Chinese Communists are no longer seen as the ultimate bad guys.
The author tells us that he likes China. He has an affinity for China, but it is the Party - The Chinese Communist Party - that he sees as the problem with China today, and it is the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that has manipulated American public opinion and American political leaders to support its actions and ideology and to help us forget that other older badder China. In the same way, he calls out long time China promoters like Henry Kissinger, George H.W. Bush, Brent Scowcroft, Neil Bush (son of H.W. and brother of W.) and many others - more on that later.
In telling the story of Chinese American relations since the re-opening of China by Nixon and Kissinger in the 1970’s we get a picture of influence peddling and the political revolving door that allowed generations of American diplomats to personally benefit from their China connections. China, it seems, is not a meritocracy. It is who you know, not what you know that makes the difference, and if you have been a diplomat dealing with China in one election cycle, you may be a valuable friend to China in the next. Chinese society has been open and then closed on many occasions. Experienced American diplomats can help American companies to navigate the mine field that is Chinese propaganda and get through to the highest levels of the Chinese government, which is, again, the Chinese Communist Party. American companies, seeing the vast market in China will pay a great deal of money to get influence with a Chinese premier or other influential leader and they do. Whether it is selling airplanes or movies, building iPhones or cars, American companies have fallen over themselves to curry favor with both the Party and the American diplomats who hold the key to access China’s huge market. Is this corruption, or just good business?
The problem, as Stone Fish tells us, is that to be successful working with the CCP, both the diplomats and the American companies must be careful to understand the Party’s message and avoid saying or doing things which would be viewed negatively by the Party. Given the size of the market and the clearly focused power of the CCP the message has been clear - whether it is avoiding criticism of China on Tibet or how they treat of their Moslem minority or tweaking a few lines in a movie to avoid making China look bad (or maybe changing the bad guy in a movie from a Hong Kong businessman to a North Korean), it seems a small and appropriate price to pay to curry favor with such a powerful country with such a huge potential market.
So what if Henry Kissinger and H.W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft and many others support American policies that are lenient towards China in order to help their business clients, themselves and tangentially the Chinese Communist Party? Doesn’t everyone know they are Chinese agents, wink wink? Hmmm. Maybe not, but we do know now, thanks to reporting and careful documentation by Isaac Stone Fish. I had to think about the grief the Trump administration gave Hunter Biden and his father while the entire Trump family and most of the Bush family were benefiting from government business in China and elsewhere. Fifty thousand dollars a month for a board position is nothing compared to over $800,000 for a position on the Board or consulting for a Chinese company.
The author raises 3 important questions: first, what role should our concern about a country’s internal politics and internal treatment of their own people play in both diplomatic and political decision making and 2.) to what degree are we complicit in crimes committed by the internal treatment of their own people if we choose to do business with that country and 3) in our country with a legacy of free speach, should we allow that country to prevent our own citizens (and corporations such as Disney) from even talking about those perceived internal activities.
I wonder if Isaac ever expects to get another visa to visit China. It is clear that he loves China, the language and the culture. He has studied the language for 20 years and he has spent much of the last decade in China. In contradiction of his own advice to others wishing to work with the CCP, he talks about mistreatment of people in Tibet (which he balances with some comments about how Tibet’s leaders mistreated their own people before the Chinese took over), he acknowledges the massacre that took place in Tiananmen Square and he uses the word genocide to describe Chinese treatment of the Uyghur people - the word even appears in the index!
Thank you, Isaac (he is the son of a good friend) for enlightening me about how the Chinese Communist Party has manipulated American “elites” including diplomats and businessmen. I have learned a great deal from this book, and expect to spend a lot of energy discussing the revelations within it. I may also go watch "Dr. No."
Isaac Stone Fish.
America Second, How America’s Elites are Making China Stronger is a thoroughly and exhaustively researched book. Isaac deserves recognition for the research he has done to support his conclusions. People my age remember China - the bad country. China, the country of the evil Dr. Fu Manchu on the radio. We remember the controversial Mao Tse Tung who unified China and committed it to Communist Party rule and who also caused the abuse of intellectuals and the starvation of millions of his own people. We remember that China supported North Korea spawning movies like “The Manchurian Candidate.” We remember the massacre of protesters in Tiananmen Square; protesters standing in front of tanks. We remember when China embodied all that we feared and hated in a totalitarian state. Then there was Nixon, and Kissinger, and detente and cooperation and trade, and the Chinese Communists are no longer seen as the ultimate bad guys.
The author tells us that he likes China. He has an affinity for China, but it is the Party - The Chinese Communist Party - that he sees as the problem with China today, and it is the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that has manipulated American public opinion and American political leaders to support its actions and ideology and to help us forget that other older badder China. In the same way, he calls out long time China promoters like Henry Kissinger, George H.W. Bush, Brent Scowcroft, Neil Bush (son of H.W. and brother of W.) and many others - more on that later.
In telling the story of Chinese American relations since the re-opening of China by Nixon and Kissinger in the 1970’s we get a picture of influence peddling and the political revolving door that allowed generations of American diplomats to personally benefit from their China connections. China, it seems, is not a meritocracy. It is who you know, not what you know that makes the difference, and if you have been a diplomat dealing with China in one election cycle, you may be a valuable friend to China in the next. Chinese society has been open and then closed on many occasions. Experienced American diplomats can help American companies to navigate the mine field that is Chinese propaganda and get through to the highest levels of the Chinese government, which is, again, the Chinese Communist Party. American companies, seeing the vast market in China will pay a great deal of money to get influence with a Chinese premier or other influential leader and they do. Whether it is selling airplanes or movies, building iPhones or cars, American companies have fallen over themselves to curry favor with both the Party and the American diplomats who hold the key to access China’s huge market. Is this corruption, or just good business?
The problem, as Stone Fish tells us, is that to be successful working with the CCP, both the diplomats and the American companies must be careful to understand the Party’s message and avoid saying or doing things which would be viewed negatively by the Party. Given the size of the market and the clearly focused power of the CCP the message has been clear - whether it is avoiding criticism of China on Tibet or how they treat of their Moslem minority or tweaking a few lines in a movie to avoid making China look bad (or maybe changing the bad guy in a movie from a Hong Kong businessman to a North Korean), it seems a small and appropriate price to pay to curry favor with such a powerful country with such a huge potential market.
So what if Henry Kissinger and H.W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft and many others support American policies that are lenient towards China in order to help their business clients, themselves and tangentially the Chinese Communist Party? Doesn’t everyone know they are Chinese agents, wink wink? Hmmm. Maybe not, but we do know now, thanks to reporting and careful documentation by Isaac Stone Fish. I had to think about the grief the Trump administration gave Hunter Biden and his father while the entire Trump family and most of the Bush family were benefiting from government business in China and elsewhere. Fifty thousand dollars a month for a board position is nothing compared to over $800,000 for a position on the Board or consulting for a Chinese company.
The author raises 3 important questions: first, what role should our concern about a country’s internal politics and internal treatment of their own people play in both diplomatic and political decision making and 2.) to what degree are we complicit in crimes committed by the internal treatment of their own people if we choose to do business with that country and 3) in our country with a legacy of free speach, should we allow that country to prevent our own citizens (and corporations such as Disney) from even talking about those perceived internal activities.
I wonder if Isaac ever expects to get another visa to visit China. It is clear that he loves China, the language and the culture. He has studied the language for 20 years and he has spent much of the last decade in China. In contradiction of his own advice to others wishing to work with the CCP, he talks about mistreatment of people in Tibet (which he balances with some comments about how Tibet’s leaders mistreated their own people before the Chinese took over), he acknowledges the massacre that took place in Tiananmen Square and he uses the word genocide to describe Chinese treatment of the Uyghur people - the word even appears in the index!
Thank you, Isaac (he is the son of a good friend) for enlightening me about how the Chinese Communist Party has manipulated American “elites” including diplomats and businessmen. I have learned a great deal from this book, and expect to spend a lot of energy discussing the revelations within it. I may also go watch "Dr. No."
April 4, 2022
This work contains a lot in just over 200 hundred pages and it is written at a critical time. Not surprisingly, Henry Kissinger comes in for substantial criticism for his conflicts of interest based on the clients his consulting firm advises while he remains a substantial opinion maker in U.S. politics. This book is informed by solid research as the author highlights examples such where Kissinger took a position in February 2000 as an official "political advisor" to the President of Indonesia while on the board of Freeport Mining with their interests in copper and gold deposits in Papua. He is not alone as the book highlights former officials from the recently passed former Secretary of State Madeline Albright to former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger who served as the Chairman of Stonebridge International which later merged with Albright's firm. Stone Fish argues and provides a sharp denunciation of U.S. leaders who advanced Chinese interests through their business dealings with Beijing. Beyond the political people who peddle that influence, the books highlights the Chinese influence with its impact on major institutions including U.S. universities, the film industry, and the National Basketball Association. The common theme is how these entities have navigated a dynamic where Beijing leverages a potential market of 1.4 billion people and entities that may be outspoken on other matters express a view that derogatorily described as "kowtowing" to Chinese pressure. Academics and political consultants carefully consider the opinions they express (self-censor) based on concerns of being able to secure a Chinese visa to ensuring continued market access necessary for their business interests. The impact on Hollywood with the potential of the Chinese market has produced remarkable leverage on U.S. film production, perhaps most stunningly on the 2012 remake of "Red Dawn" where in post-production, the Chinese pressured Sony and MGM who ended up spending over $1 million to digitally remake the film so the invaders of America were North Korean and not Chinese. All of this raises the question of whether the U.S. and other nations are prepared to contend with the reach of Chinese State power today and into the future to shape perceptions.
August 25, 2023
Here is what the movers, shakers, and China 'experts' (and Henry Kissinger) would rather you not know about their backs and forths with the Communist Party of China over the past fifty years. America second? Quite. And what is first? Principle, truth, and empathy or hypocrisy, maneuver, and greed? No book shows the answer more clearly.
Perry Link, Professor Emeritus of East Asian Studies, Princeton University
---
A scorching denunciation of U.S. leaders who serve Chinese interests... Whether in academia or business, China has exerted so much influence, Stone Fish concludes, that American elites exercise strict self-censorship when it comes to criticizing China—a dictator’s dream, if an exercise in self-serving cowardice. An eye-opening look at the behind-the-scenes sway China holds over so much of the U.S. economy.
Kirkus
This fascinating book concludes that the best lobbyists for the Chinese Communist Party in the US have not been its propagandists, or even PR agents hired to do its bidding, but self-justifying American businessmen drawn to China by the promise of its vast markets. What’s most troubling is that, given the thoroughness of Stone Fish’s research, it’s not easy to argue with his conclusion.
Orville Schell, Director, the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society
A stinging exposé... Written in tart prose that pulls no punches, Fish’s persuasive investigation reveals a morass of corruption and sycophancy that has worrisome geopolitical implications. Readers will be alarmed.
Publishers Weekly
Isaac Stone Fish’s candor and self-reflection drives his cautionary tale about the perils of self-censorship, rationalization, and accommodation. He has built a powerful case against sacrificing the truth in pursuit of success in China.
Evan Osnos, author of Age of Ambition
Perry Link, Professor Emeritus of East Asian Studies, Princeton University
---
A scorching denunciation of U.S. leaders who serve Chinese interests... Whether in academia or business, China has exerted so much influence, Stone Fish concludes, that American elites exercise strict self-censorship when it comes to criticizing China—a dictator’s dream, if an exercise in self-serving cowardice. An eye-opening look at the behind-the-scenes sway China holds over so much of the U.S. economy.
Kirkus
This fascinating book concludes that the best lobbyists for the Chinese Communist Party in the US have not been its propagandists, or even PR agents hired to do its bidding, but self-justifying American businessmen drawn to China by the promise of its vast markets. What’s most troubling is that, given the thoroughness of Stone Fish’s research, it’s not easy to argue with his conclusion.
Orville Schell, Director, the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society
A stinging exposé... Written in tart prose that pulls no punches, Fish’s persuasive investigation reveals a morass of corruption and sycophancy that has worrisome geopolitical implications. Readers will be alarmed.
Publishers Weekly
Isaac Stone Fish’s candor and self-reflection drives his cautionary tale about the perils of self-censorship, rationalization, and accommodation. He has built a powerful case against sacrificing the truth in pursuit of success in China.
Evan Osnos, author of Age of Ambition
March 25, 2022
A fascinating account of how the 4+ decades of "engagement" with China, a policy designed to fold Beijing into the U.S.-led international order, instead empowered the Chinese Communist Party by acquiescing to its demands in pursuit of profit. Stone Fish (disclosure — he's a friend) documents how major pillars of American life, from universities to Hollywood to big business, routinely abased themselves and engaged in self-censorship in order to preserve access to the lucrative Chinese market, upon which they had grown dependent.
Who's to blame for this happening? One prominent person Stone Fish identifies is Henry Kissinger, the most celebrated American diplomat alive. Known as the architect of President Nixon's "opening" to China in the early 1970s, Kissinger has, following his time in government, made a fortune as a consultant trading on his access to the Chinese leadership. Even as the Communist Party oversaw the massacre of student protesters in 1989 and became ever more oppressive in recent years, Kissinger worked to keep Sino-American ties on a firm footing. But what he and his fellow travelers failed to realize is that there's no such thing as having an apolitical relationship with China. If you fail to stick up for your values, you, instead, embody those of the Chinese Communist Party.
Stone Fish's account is a concise, highly readable primer on how the era of engagement, which came to a crashing halt with the election of Donald Trump in 2016, ended in such failure. To his credit, he writes with candor about his own decisions, as a veteran journalist, to censor his views in order to maintain access. As a China-focused journalist myself, I am guilty of the same thing. It's well past time that, like Stone Fish, we re-examine this practice.
Who's to blame for this happening? One prominent person Stone Fish identifies is Henry Kissinger, the most celebrated American diplomat alive. Known as the architect of President Nixon's "opening" to China in the early 1970s, Kissinger has, following his time in government, made a fortune as a consultant trading on his access to the Chinese leadership. Even as the Communist Party oversaw the massacre of student protesters in 1989 and became ever more oppressive in recent years, Kissinger worked to keep Sino-American ties on a firm footing. But what he and his fellow travelers failed to realize is that there's no such thing as having an apolitical relationship with China. If you fail to stick up for your values, you, instead, embody those of the Chinese Communist Party.
Stone Fish's account is a concise, highly readable primer on how the era of engagement, which came to a crashing halt with the election of Donald Trump in 2016, ended in such failure. To his credit, he writes with candor about his own decisions, as a veteran journalist, to censor his views in order to maintain access. As a China-focused journalist myself, I am guilty of the same thing. It's well past time that, like Stone Fish, we re-examine this practice.
May 9, 2022
I'm sure there was a lot of research done to complete the book. However, the book read like one that came from a paranoid conspiracy theorist. Not enjoyable and eventually became a drag. America's Elites are full on capitalism so is it really so surprising that they do all things self-serving even to the detriment of their own country? I still think not all Elites are working to make China stronger.
May 10, 2022
It's not like I was Henry Kissinger's greatest fan before I read this book but this has certainly convinced me I was giving him too much benefit of the doubt. The book itself though is just too much fruitless whinging.
February 15, 2022
WOW. Enlightening read. Beautifully written, thoughtful, and powerful. Can't wait to finish!
May 24, 2022
This is the first time I give such bad review.
The book is full of hate and unsupported arguments against China. I would go as far and call the author a racist.
Avoid this book.
The book is full of hate and unsupported arguments against China. I would go as far and call the author a racist.
Avoid this book.
July 19, 2022
A balanced treatment of our recent history with China. Fantastically researched and clearly written, a must-read for anyone hoping to understand recent players and influences.
September 27, 2022
Decent information with the feeling the author is waiting to see who comes out on top and coyly drift in that direction.
December 21, 2024
The best section was on Kissinger's particular relationship with China. Otherwise some arguments that were needed in 2016-2020 but are now well-know explanations of Chinese co-optation of/market leverage over: business (appeasement of Chinese social media as the price of doing business), universities (huge numbers of students in America), Hollywood (studios compete for a limited number of screenings allotted to foreign films / the live-action Mulan cooperating with XPCC), Boeing (China plays Airbus and Boeing, and thus the US government, off one another), etc. Can't remember what Fish recommends as a solution.
May 15, 2022
Somehow the fear mongering and reporting here didn’t quite lead up to a huge sense of outrage: is it really such a surprise that people in the highest positions of power in the US have been cozying up to the Chinese government for the past 50 years starting with Kissinger and involving most of the leading US figures since then? Color me unshocked and that's basically the achilles heel of the book.
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