The book examines how since his appointment to China's three top posts - simultaneously for the first time in 30 years - Xi Jinping has deftly used ideology and nationalism to accumulate power and ensure the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s legitimacy and monopoly on power. Xi Jinping has imposed progressively stricter domestic measures leading to the steady hardening and inflexibility of the Chinese state.
It looks at the reforms in the Party, Government and Military and the unprecedentedly sustained and bruising drive against corruption in the People's Liberation Army (PLA). In the process, Xi Jinping has eliminated political rivals and whittled down opposition to the most extensive and far reaching reforms the PLA has witnessed in its 90 years. Developments related to Tibet are especially analysed.
The book analyses China's 'One Belt, One Road' - now called the 'Belt and Road Initiative' - and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor initiatives, intended to alter its strategic environment and expand power and influence well beyond its borders and up to Europe. It concludes that China will squeeze the strategic space of its neighbours.
China's rise and bid to establish itself as the dominant power in the Indo-Pacific, however, will not be uncontested. India, Japan and the USA's response will be important.
Jayadeva Ranade, is President of the 'Centre for China Analysis and Strategy'. He retired as Additional Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India in August 2008 and was later appointed as Member of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB). He is a Member of the Core Group on China of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA); Distinguished Fellow at the Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS), New Delhi; and Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS), New Delhi. Jayadeva Ranade has specialised for over 40 years in the analysis of developments relating to China, Tibet and East Asia, and strategic issues relevant to India. He has prepared and finalised briefs, including political and risk analyses, on sensitive issues for the highest echelons in Government. He obtained a Diploma of Advanced Proficiency in Chinese from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and a Diploma in Mandarin from the University of Hong Kong. In the course of his 35-year career, Jayadeva Ranade has been posted to Diplomatic Missions in areas strategically important for India, including Hong Kong, Beijing and Washington DC. He was conferred both the highest awards of the Organisation out of turn. Jayadeva Ranade is author of the book China Unveiled: Insights into Chinese Strategic Thinking, released in January 2013. He regularly contributes articles to leading Indian newspapers and defence and strategic publications. He often speaks at international conferences and on national and international Television channels.
