China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) represents a monumental shift in the global power landscape. Through ambitious infrastructure projects and strategic economic investments, China has emerged as a formidable challenger to U.S. dominance in the modern Great Power Competition (GPC), leveraging a unique blend of soft power and non-interference policy. This distinctive strategy has allowed China to rapidly gain footholds in resource rich regions such as Central Asia-South Asia (CASA) and the Middle East, compelling the U.S. to rethink its foreign policy approach in response. Given China’s adept leveraging of soft power in these geostrategic regions, the critical question arises: how can the U.S. meet the nuanced challenges of the modern GPC?

The Great Power Competition Volume 6: The Rise of China delves into China’s calculated rise, exploring how the BRI has captivated nations spanning pivotal regions, entrenching Chinese influence across critical sectors. This edited volume brings together distinguished global experts and thought leaders to provide comprehensive analyses of China’s expanding influence across economic, political, technological, and security domains. The collection of essays offers critical insights and recommendations for navigating the modern-day great power competition in an era defined by China’s ascent. The book highlights China’s BRI brand diplomacy and its strategic use of soft power and non-interference policy to reshape the geopolitical landscape. The authors’ final analyses underscore that in the modern era of the GPC, strategic competition and soft power are deeply intertwined.