The Great Decoupling: China, America and the Struggle for Technological Supremacy

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In 12 substantive chapters, the author provides a comprehensive diagnosis of the state of play of the relationship between China and the US, up to the Trump-Xi period. The book’s thesis is that the two countries, the largest in the world across a number of measures (most importantly economic and military) are headed for an inevitable divergence, fuelled by misunderstanding, misalignment, and competing ambitions. This, of course, is nothing new and has been the subject of many academic and journalistic commentaries. But where Inkster stands out is in his focus on technology, an artefact important to every civilisation, and one which becomes a motivation and a weapon for integration or divergence. The book’s title gives a clue as to which camp Inkster falls within. This is no mere new cold war, he argues (though much of his argument fits squarely with much of that burgeoning and increasingly attention-worthy literature). That analogy misses a lot that is different in the US-PRC formation compared to its US-USSR example. It is more akin to the UK-German pre-WWI and US-Japan pre-Pearl Harbour situations; add to that the fuel of the narrative of the century of humiliation, authoritarian rule, and ingenuity and you have a highly motivated government and society in China.