All That Glistens

Description

In the 2010s, as China slid deeper into authoritarianism and the UK veered towards political uncertainty, the two countries declared a ‘Golden Era’ of relations. This challenge to the established international order came amid rising global concern around Chinese party-state intrusions abroad.

All That Glistens peels away the shiny exterior of the Sino-British ‘golden age’ to reveal a relationship built on global capitalism, British corruption and Chinese Communist Party influence over UK affairs—to the disquiet of London’s allies.

Drawing on his years on the ground in Beijing, as well as investigative research using open-source intelligence, Martin Thorley’s timely book sheds light on a murky aspect of international relations. He reveals coordinated Chinese state actions reaching into the heart of Parliament, and the widespread compromise of British politics by Chinese commercial entities—particularly nuclear energy, property development and currency-trading enterprises. Exposing the close connections between Western financialisation and China’s geopolitical interference, this book offers a cautionary tale for all liberal democracies.

Author(s)

Martin Thorley is a senior analyst at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, exploring state crime and shadow international relations. A Mandarin-speaker and former postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Exeter, he spent over six years living, studying and building a business in China. He holds a PhD in Contemporary Chinese Studies from the University of Nottingham, and is a former Chiang Ching-kuo doctoral fellow.