All That Glistens: Chinese Party-State Influence in Britain - Hardcover

Thorley, Martin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1805260073 ISBN 13: 9781805260073

Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd, 2025

Synopsis

Investigates how Chinese state entities have compromised British business and politics at the highest levels.

‘Insightful, enraging and highly topical’ ― Edward Lucas, The Times

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 previously lived in China and is an expert in state crime and shadow international relations
• Reveals coordinated Chinese state actions reaching into the heart of Parliament
• For readers looking for a thorough investigation into how Chinese state entities are compromising the UK

About this title

About the Author

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.

Edition details

• Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1805260073
• ISBN 13: 9781805260073
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 280