The Dragon Roars Back: Xi Jinping’s Power Concentration and Foreign Policy Implications

Professor Suisheng Zhao will draw on his new book, The Dragon Roars Back: Transformational Leaders and Dynamics of Chinese Foreign Policy to trace the dramatic shifts in China’s foreign policy since its founding in 1949 and the key roles played by Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Xi Jinping. Each of these transformational leaders reshaped foreign policy to better fit their visions for China. His presentation will focus on Xi Jinping’s power concentration and its implications for Chinese foreign policy.

Suisheng Zhao is a Professor and Director of the Center for China-US Cooperation at the Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs, University of Denver. A Campbell National Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, he is the founder and editor of the Journal of Contemporary China, and the author and editor of over two dozen books and hundreds of academic articles. His most recent book, The Dragon Roars Back: Transformational Leaders and Dynamics of Chinese Foreign Policy (Stanford University Press, 2023, was named one of “Best of Books 2024” by Foreign Affairs magazine.