Australian Centre on China in the World

In this timely and illuminating talk, Dr Bates Gill will discuss the principal themes of his new book, Daring to Struggle: China's Global Ambitions under Xi Jinping (Oxford University Press, 2022). Drawing from the book's findings, Dr Gill will explain the fundamental motivations driving China's more dynamic, assertive and risk-taking approach to the world under Xi Jinping. In Daring to Struggle, Gill focuses on six increasingly important interests for today's China — legitimacy, sovereignty, wealth, power, leadership, and ideas — and details how the determined pursuit of these goals at home and abroad profoundly shapes its foreign relationships, for better and for worse. The result is a more contested strategic environment in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.

Dr Bates Gill is Executive Director of Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis where he leads a team of research fellows, associated researchers, and administrative staff to deliver on the Center’s aim to be a global leader for policy-relevant, objective analysis of China’s politics, economy, and society and its impact on Asia and the world. Prior to joining the Asia Society, he was professor and chair of the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University in Sydney and was also the inaugural Scholar-in-Residence with the Asia Society Australia.

The ANU China Seminar Series is supported by the Australian Centre on China in the World at ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.