After Engagement

Washington's approach to Beijing has reached a turning point. From the 1970s until roughly the late 2010s, most American policymakers agreed that drawing China into the U.S.-led international system was the right course. That agreement broke down as China grew stronger and more assertive and came to be regarded in Washington as a strategic competitor. Because the U.S.-China relationship is the most important bilateral tie in the world, the choices both governments make will shape international relations for years to come.

The contributors are established specialists in U.S.-China relations and Chinese foreign policy. They examine how American officials and analysts have revised their views of China's capabilities and intentions, and they weigh the resulting risks to international security, the effects of a shifting global balance of power, the role of mutual misperception, and the possibility of armed conflict.

Particular attention goes to China's military modernization, its advances in technology, and its Belt and Road Initiative, along with regional flashpoints including the South China Sea disputes, China's relations with Japan, and tensions on the Korean Peninsula.