China Unbound

Winner of the 2022 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political WritingAs the world's second-largest economy, China is extending its influence across the globe with the complicity of democratic nations.Joanna Chiu has spent a decade tracking China's propulsive rise, from the political aspects of the multi-billion-dollar "New Silk Road" global investment project to a growing sway on foreign countries and multilateral institutions through "United Front" efforts.For too long, Western societies have mishandled or simply ignored Beijing's actions out of narrow self-interest. Decades of willful misinterpretation have over time become complicity in the toxic diplomacy, human rights abuses and foreign interference seen from China today, Chiu argues.Engaging chapters transport readers to a frozen lake in Russia, protests in Hong Kong, underground churches in Beijing, and exile Uyghur communities in Turkey, exposing Beijing's high-tech surveillance and aggressive measures resulting in human rights violations against those who challenge its power.The new world disorder documented in China Unbound lays out the disturbing implications for global stability, prosperity, and civil rights everywhere.

'An eye-opening global tour of the growing influence of the new superpower. A fascinating, illuminating book.', 'Provides a powerful, heartfelt account of Chinese immigrants and their fraught encounters with Beijing’s United Front Work Department … Chiu tells gripping stories of influence operations in such disparate places as Australia, Canada, the US, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Russia.', 'A devastating analysis of the Chinese police state gone global. "China Unbound" is essential to understanding the fragility of peace in the twenty-first century.', 'In this thought-provoking book, journalist Joanna Chiu argues persuasively that the United States, Canada, and other democracies -- whether out of economic self-interest or sheer ineptitude -- have enabled Beijing's efforts to expand its influence around the world. A sweeping, timely, and nuanced read for anyone who cares about the global rise of authoritarianism.', 'A vivid, perspicacious, and ultimately disillusioned book about the current direction of China that explores a rising China's fitful relations with a wide range of countries, and reveals what's left of its domestic reforms as being driven by an obsession with ever greater control. "China Unbound" delivers urgent and much-needed caution against xenophobia toward Chinese people at a time of growing tensions with a new superpower.'

Joanna Chiu is an internationally recognized authority on China, whose work has appeared in The Guardian, Foreign Policy, BBC World, The Atlantic, Newsweek, Quartz, Al Jazeera, GlobalPost, CBC and NPR. For seven years she was based in China as a foreign correspondent, reporting for top news agencies such as Agence France Presse (AFP) and Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA); in Hong Kong, she reported for the South China Morning Post, The Economist, and Associated Press (AP). In 2012 her story on refugees in Hong Kong won a Human Rights Press Award, and in 2018 her report on #MeToo cases in Asia was named one of the best Foreign Policy long-form stories. She is the founder and chair of the NüVoices editorial collective, which celebrates the creative and academic work of women working on the subject of China. She is currently a senior journalist covering China-related topics for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest newspaper, and previously served as bureau chief of The Star Vancouver. She speaks frequently at major events and conferences.