For a decent understanding of the nature of politics, I would research some political theory, specifically "Realism".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realism_%28international_relat...

As for book recommendations, is there a specific topic you want to focus on? What are understanding are you looking to get out of them?

There's books on the rise of Asian economies, books on political theory that go more in depth, books on the politics and economics of China, history books on wars between rival powers, books on the history of Asia..etc