A Better U.S. Strategy for East Asia

There is a growing hawkish consensus in the United States that views the Chinese government as an aggressive and expansionist power that seeks global domination. This consensus view exaggerates Chinese power and ambitions, and threatens to push the U.S. towards a heavily militarized standoff with the world’s most populous country in its own backyard. Fortunately, there are dissenters in the debate over U.S. policy in East Asia that recognize the flaws in the hawkish approach and propose a viable alternative. One example of this is “Toward an Inclusive and Balanced Regional Order,” the recently released Quincy Institute report on U.S. strategy in East Asia authored by Michael Swaine, Jessica Lee, and Rachel Esplin Odell.