Image credit: U.S. Department of State
IPD Research Fellow, Christopher Mott wrote an article for 1945 arguing against the ‘New Cold War’ projections between China and the United States.
The following is an excerpt from the original piece published by 1945.
A recent overview of Sino-American relations by the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy that gathered the opinions of thirteen different China experts found the application of America’s Cold War style deterrence and containment strategy to its much more complex and multifaceted relationship with China to be detrimental to U.S. national interest in the medium to long term.
Forcing an ideological straitjacket on what is most likely standard great power competition, especially on geo-economic grounds, would inhibit Washington’s strategic freedom and political imagination when it comes to diplomatic options while depleting its resources and possibly even alienating more neutrally-postured nations.
It is therefore vital at this critical juncture that Washington avoid turning a normal and manageable competition into an adversarial, existential struggle defined by insurmountable ideological conflict and Manichean binaries.
