Managing a great power relationship: The United States, China and East Asian security

Abstract

Instead of being obsessed with trade and human rights issues, US leaders ought to devote more attention to Beijing's strategic behavior. Washington should not adopt a containment policy toward China and should even seek opportunities to work closely with Beijing when the interests of the two countries overlap. At the same time, the United States needs to monitor Beijing's military modernization program and the PRC's sometimes belligerent efforts to press its territorial claims in the South China and East China seas. Above all, the United States must abandon its policy of ‘smothering’ the political and military ambitions of Japan and other Cold War era allies in East Asia. The emergence of multiple power centers in the region would discourage any hegemonic aspirations by the PRC and reduce the likelihood of a bilateral military confrontation between China and the United States.