No Limits: The Inside Story of China's War with the West

by Andrew Small

A Financial Times Best Politics Book of 2022
 
The gripping story of a turning point in global affairs, as politicians belatedly awaken to serious systemic threats

This is the inside story of a revolution in China policy, from Washington to Brussels, Berlin to New Delhi. "No Limits" explains how many of the Western politicians, thinkers and business leaders closest to Beijing have become its sharpest opponents; how the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically accelerated this collective rethink; and why 5G represented the first test case as to whether China may win the battle for the future.

Noted China expert Andrew Small offers a kaleidoscopic picture of a rivalry ranging far beyond 'great power' politics. He traces US efforts to recast relations with old allies, as Washington realises that it cannot confront China alone, charting Europe's growing role in the technological and economic contest, and Beijing's attempts to build a coalition of its own, from Moscow to Taliban-run Kabul.

The result is an engaging, lucid and even-handed account of the defining geopolitical issue of our age.

Genres: China, Nonfiction, Politics

288 pages, Hardcover

Published November 15, 2022

Reviews

[Michael]

This was a pretty interesting book and written plainly for laymen. It was easy to digest and understand. Andrew Small has hands-on experience with China which helps with perspective.

The book explained the recent history of China's relations with other nations economically and politically, from its cooperation with the West to its more aggressive approach in recent years. It covered various points of view from the EU to the United States to Pakistan, Russia & China, and their political and economic relations with each other, including the evolution of those relations over time.

I would recommend this book for a layman looking to understand the economic and political relations that have developed between China and other nations, alliances, and pacts and how they've changed over time. Probably not for the better, either.

[Melanie Cornelius]

This book promised much in the way of explaining the current rivalry between the United States and China. Unfortunately, it did not really deliver. Although a fast read, the author used acronyms precipitously, they do not come up for those who are not experts, make for easy reading. There seem to be a new acronym or a series of letters for various agencies every few paragraphs. This made it extremely awkward to read.

The ideologic perspective of the People’s Republic of China wasn’t adequately, explained, nor wasn’t contrasted with the capitalistic view typical of the United States. The author referred to countries rather than their leaders, as if a country makes decisions, except through ITS leaders. And with respect of China seemed to assume that most individuals would be familiar with the principles. The author then slipped into using acronyms and short forms for these unfamiliar individuals in a way that made it very hard to follow. Ironically, the book would otherwise be a fast read, but even at the end, I am not sure that I learned much more about the Chinese economic rivalry with United States. It’s main focus seem to be recounting the history of Huawai without explaining the problem the company had when dealing with United States regulators. It acknowledged there was common opposition to the company, but didn’t really explain it. Similar problems were not explained involving China telecommunications. The surge was referred to as a given. The author even seemed to make assumptions that everyone would know about Lithuania.

This book is virtually impossible to understand unless one is well-versed already in Chinese, American political and economic differences. It made the overall book extremely hard to follow.

On the positive side, the author wrote decent prose, but in this case, the absence of explanation, the constant use of acronyms, and the assumption that the concepts would be readily apparent to the reader makes this book quite hard to understand. My suggestion would be simply to skip it.

[Daniel Betancourt]

Slow but informative read

Good information on current and historical events. The books reads somewhat slow but is worth reading for a good overview for current geopolitical information.

[Ted Haussman]

While semi- interesting, I found the book to be a mish mosh of anecdotes and thoughts without a real thesis or coherent theme, except perhaps a feeling of disillusionment among those who bought into the early 2000s notion of a China in “intellectual ferment.”

[Henry]

7/10