A timely, provocative exposé of America’s political and business leadership’s deep ties to China: a network of people who believe they are doing the right thing — at a profound and often hidden cost to American and Western interests.
The past few years have seen a shift in the relations between China and the United States, from enthusiastic economic partners, to wary frenemies, to open rivals. Americans have been slow to wake up to the challenges posed by the Chinese Communist Party. Why did this happen? And what can be done about it?
In America Second, Isaac Stone Fish traces the evolution of the Chinese Communist Party’s influence in America. He shows how America’s leaders initially welcomed China’s entry into the US economy, believing that trade and engagement would lead to a more democratic China. And he explains how — despite the fact that this belief has proved misguided — many of the country’s businesspeople and politicians have become too dependent on China to challenge it.
America Second exposes a deep web of Chinese influence in America, built quietly over the years through prominent figures such as former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, Disney chairman Bob Iger, and members of the Bush political dynasty. And it shows how to fight that influence — without being paranoid, xenophobic, or racist. This is an authoritative and important story, not only of corruption but of misplaced intentions, with serious implications for the future of the United States, as well as for the world at large.
‘This fascinating book concludes that the best lobbyists for the Chinese Communist Party in the US have not been its propagandists, or even PR agents hired to do its bidding, but self-justifying American businessmen drawn to China by the promise of its vast markets. What’s most troubling is that, given the thoroughness of Stone Fish’s research, it’s not easy to argue with his conclusion.’
Orville Schell, director of the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society
‘Fish’s book … raises the very important topic of why we continue to trust many of America’s grandest foreign policy figures (people like Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright) on China, when they and many others have been paid rich salaries by the Party (or companies associated with it) for consulting work in their private lives. It’s a thorny and important question, tackled in a non-xenophobic way by a veteran foreign correspondent in China.’
Rana Foroohar, Financial Times
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‘Here is what the movers, shakers, and China “experts” (and Henry Kissinger) would rather you not know about their backs and forths with the Communist Party of China over the past fifty years. America second? Quite. And what is first? Principle, truth, and empathy or hypocrisy, manoeuvre, and greed? No book shows the answer more clearly.’
Perry Link, Professor Emeritus of East Asian Studies, Princeton University
‘The lures of money and access have turned US political and business leaders into covert supporters of Chinese interests, according to this stinging exposé … Written in tart prose that pulls no punches, Fish’s persuasive investigation reveals a morass of corruption and sycophancy that has worrisome geopolitical implications. Readers will be alarmed.’
Publishers Weekly
‘Stone Fish delivers a scorching denunciation of US leaders who serve Chinese interests … Whether in academia or business, China has exerted so much influence, Stone Fish concludes, that American elites exercise strict self-censorship when it comes to criticising China — a dictator’s dream, if an exercise in self-serving cowardice. An eye-opening look at the behind-the-scenes sway China holds over so much of the US economy.’
Kirkus Reviews
‘Fish … lays out a damning narrative of how American corporations, sports leagues, universities, media, politicians, and diplomats, among others — citing names and incidents — have kowtowed to the Communist Party to protect their own interests while vainly, perhaps cynically, expressing the hope that, in the process, China might somehow democratise … Fish ends with a strong pushback against the demonisation of Chinese Americans, and of mainland Chinese; his beef here is always with the Communist Party.’
Booklist
‘Fish here digs deeply into the ties between China and US political and business leadership. His argument: these leaders applauded when China expanded into the global market, seeing it as a democratising force within that country, then became so entrenched in that belief — and in the connections they have built in China — that they have not stood up to China on key political, social, and human rights issues. That may now be changing.’
Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal
‘A tale of corruption, cultural misunderstanding, and ultimately, a warning unfolds in this comprehensive exposé.’
Happy Mag
