Analysis & Opinions

As the Biden administration and Congress struggle to get their heads around the challenge posed by China today, they should reflect on lessons learned in America’s success in winning the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Just because fundamental and irresolvable differences in values and interests compel the United States and China to be formidable rivals does not mean a hot war is a viable option.

Stephen Walt argues that the conditions that allowed the United States to dominate the Western Hemisphere and exclude other major powers do not exist in Asia today.

Graham Allison is interviewed about U.S.-China relations by the Global Macro Research Team for a Goldman Sachs publication.

The European Union is planning to adopt semiconductor export controls, restrictions on outbound investment in China, and new rules to reduce the European market share of Chinese renewables. This strategy brings Brussels' into closer alignment with Washington and is likely to increase tensions with Beijing significantly.

The following is an event write-up about the recent Future of Diplomacy Project (FDP) seminar on “The Geopolitics of Latin America amid the War in Ukraine and China-U.S. Tensions” moderated by Negah Angha, Fellow at the Institute of Politics, on March 29, 2023.

If historian Thucydides were asked about what is happening in relations between the United States and China today, what would he say? That was the question posed to me at the Davos World Economic Forum in January. I responded that he would say that this is a classic Thucydidean rivalry in which the two parties are right on script, each competing to show which can best exemplify the typical rising and ruling power – leaving him on the edge of his seat anticipating the grandest collision of all time.

Stephen Walt analyzes why China's foreign-policy reset will—or won't—work out.

Grant Golub and Yameen Huq explain how intentional communication at all levels of government can lay the foundation for future cooperation between the United States and China.

Joseph Nye explains why, for five decades, both China and the United States benefited from the time they had bought on the question of the island's status. To prevent what is currently a managed competition from spiraling out of control, the United States should take careful but clear steps to strengthen its longstanding policy of "double deterrence."

Chris Li spoke to Newsweek about how the outcome of the 2022 U.S. midterm elections and Republican control of the House of Representatives might constrain the Biden administration's foreign policy options on China.