Asian Waters: The Struggle Over the Asia-Pacific and the Strategy of Chinese Expansion

'An enthralling read and essential for those grappling with the big picture politics of the 21st century's key geopolitical spaces' Tim Marshall, Sunday Times bestselling author of Prisoners of Geography

Few territories are as hotly contested as the Asian-Pacific. Across the 1.5 million square mile expanse of the East and South China Seas, six countries lay competing claims that date back centuries. China, Vietnam, Korea and Indonesia assert their right to trade routes, deploying military garrisons to defend disputed territories while Vietnam and the Philippines resist their expansion. But no single government can face a superpower like China alone, and as the country extends its reach, less powerful states turn to the US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand for diplomatic mediation. The result is an unstable cocktail of competing interests and international tensions a cold war poised on the brink of turning hot.

BBC foreign correspondent Humphrey Hawksley has been following this increasingly precarious situation in East Asia for decades. Reporting on years of political developments, he has witnessed China's rise to become one of the world's most powerful trade entities, elbowing smaller markets out in the process. In Asian Waters, Hawksley draws on his experience as a veteran journalist to portray the region in all its complexity and delivers a compelling account of where it is heading. Will China continue to rise to power peacefully or will its ambition prompt a new world war? Will Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan create a multi-lateral alliance similar to NATO to pre-empt further encroachment? Asian Waters delves into these topics and more as Hawksley presents the most comprehensive analysis of the region to date.