As a committed sinophile, this recently written book seemed a necessity. As China continues its rise to being the most dominant national force economically on the planet, it is quite difficult to obtain meaningful and relevant and unbiased factual information about its thoughts and the thoughts of its governing Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Aside from the political Iron Curtain, there is the language barrier. I studied Mandarin Chinese language at the Confucius Institute at Cardiff University for three years so have some basic linguistic and cultural understanding. This book is alike a definitive manual of people involved with the CCP internationally, its many umbrella organisations and its often discrete methods that it uses in order to obtain influence. I can see me often referring back to this book in the future for some of its well-researched detail. I did sometimes find a bias against the CCP and cannot see this book getting published in the mother country. Just the mention of the dreaded ‘Three T’s alone should suffice: (Tibet, Taiwan, Tianamen). The cast of international politicians linked in some way, often financially to the CCP was totally shocking. I was surprised to read of more Conservative Party involvement with China than indeed the more obvious socialist Labour Party. One thing is for sure, is that the CCP global reach is unilaterally widespread and with its full arsenal of orgs designed specifically to enhance the CCP and its broadening widescoping foreign policy it is certainly good to have this detailed out in print. I am totally blown away by the BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) and see it as being the most significant international global event over the next several decades. For me, being a Confucius Institute alumnus, I loved the chapters devoted to education. I believe that it is critically important for as many people as possible to open the doors to China by learning Mandarin Chinese. It is a beautiful language that is destined to replace English as the global lingua franca of business. I have currently raised some issues with my MP Jessica Morden (Labour), MS John Griffiths (Labour) and David Davies (Conservative). Liz Truss has announced that she intends to throw the Confucius Institute system out of the U.K. and replace the mainland Chinese teachers with the overseas Taiwan education program. I think this just demonstrates Miss Truss’ clear lack of ability to guide the U.K. sensibly and would be devastating to future generations of our education system as well as crippling our economy on a global scale. I am hoping that the local democratically elected politicians that I have approached can coherently persuade Prime Minister Liz Truss to come to her senses specifically over the Confucius Institute matter. I look forward to researching some of the material I have read and let’s hope that I can somehow grasp the intricacies of Ji Xinping thought.