Innovate to Dominate: The Rise of the Chinese Techno-Security State: Tai Ming Cheung, Ithaca and London, Cornell University Press, 2022

The outcome of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, held in October 2022, was on predictable lines. It was no surprise that President Xi Jinping was chosen CPC supremo for an unprecedented third time, defying the two-term limit set by Deng Xiaoping to prevent a single person from gaining absolute and autocratic power like Mao Zedong. Xi, considered the most powerful leader in China since Mao, is determined to put China on the ‘rejuvenation’ path and attain superpower status for the Middle Kingdom by mid-century. What approach has Xi adopted to fulfil his ambitions of transforming China into a major economic, technological and military superpower? Will he succeed and what are the obstacles going forward? What does it mean for the existing international order that is still dominated by the US? Simply, what kind of China is Xi building?