Asian Waters

The Struggle over the South China Sea and the Strategy of Chinese Expansion

By: Humphrey Hawksley

Narrated by: Nigel Patterson

In the sphere of future global politics, no region will be as hotly contested as the Asia-Pacific, where great power interests collide amid the mistrust of unresolved conflicts and disputed territory. This is where authoritarian China is trying to rewrite international law and challenge the democratic values of the US and its allies.

The lightning rods of conflict are remote reefs and islands from which China has created military bases in the 1.5-million-square-mile expanse of the South China Sea, a crucial world trading route this rising world power now claims as its own.

No other Asian country can take on China alone. They look for protection from the US, although it too may be ill-equipped for the job at hand. If China does get away with seizing and militarizing waters here, what will it do elsewhere in the world, and who will be able to stop it?

In Asian Waters, award-winning foreign correspondent Humphrey Hawksley breaks down the politics - and tensions - he has followed through this region for years. Reporting on decades of political developments, he has witnessed China's rise to become one of the world's most wealthy and militarized countries, and he delivers in Asian Waters the compelling narrative of this most volatile region.

©2018 Humphrey Hawksley (P)2018 Tantor

A Great Read, Asian Waters

Award winning BBC veteran Humphrey Hawksley delivers a profound page turner in Asian Waters. Humphery maps put the history and events that launched China, in a few short years, to become a global force to be reckoned with. Great detail and intrigue. A must read.

One of the best

One of the better “China” books I have read and I have read a lot

What shall we (U.S.) do?

A decent synopsis of China's focus on claiming Asian seas. I appreciated it and feel like it caught me up to date on a surface level of knowledge.