No Constraints: China's Global Quest for Partners and Influence

A sweeping account of China’s global strategy from Mao to Xi, revealing its effort to court strategic partners, outmaneuver rivals, and reshape the global order on its own termsBeijing wants global influence without global entanglements.That ambition is not new-it has been decades in the making.Rather than building rigid alliances, China has cultivated a vast and flexible web of partnerships spanning ideological divides.These ties-with Russia, North Korea, Global South states, and key US-aligned powers-are designed to avoid binding commitments, counter perceived containment, and expand Beijing’s room for maneuver amid intensifying great power competition.No Constraints offers an unprecedented look at this approach, showing how China’s global strategy is driven by a persistent fear of strategic encirclement and a relentless drive to break free of it. In a study spanning China’s Cold War alliances to its search for partners today, Patricia Kim reveals how Beijing has managed and mismanag