China's elevated international status and its increasing assertiveness in global affairs are viewed by many as reflections of the country's formidable ambition. Over the past several decades, China's ambition has materialized through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and wider economic inroads in Africa, Latin America, and Asia; its domestic “Made in China 2025” initiative; and its increasing peacekeeping efforts. Will China realize its global ambitions? This timely and important question drives Luke Patey's book. China's ascendence to the next global superpower is not certain, Patey argues; instead, it is conditional on how China behaves toward the rest of the world, and how the world responds.

How China Loses starts by asking what China wants from the world. Patey uses Xi Jinping's speeches to reveal that China wants to achieve a list of ambitious tasks. These include resolving overseas conflicts to secure its investments, attaining far-reaching global influence through the BRI, quelling criticism and cementing the political legitimacy of the Communist Party, and advancing China's growth and modernization at home. The book then travels to several nations in Africa, Latin America, Western Europe, and Asia to examine the pushback from host countries against the Chinese BRI, peacekeeping efforts, and Made in Chin