27 June 2024

The US Is Learning the Wrong Cold War Lessons on China

Minxin Pei

By now few question the proposition that the US and China are locked in an open-ended strategic rivalry, if not a new Cold War. But what the end game of this contest looks like is a hotly debated topic. Hawks in Washington are calling for “victory,” rejecting the strategy of a managed competition that prioritizes the prevention of an uncontrolled escalation and even a great power war.

The definition of victory, spelled out in an influential recent article in Foreign Affairs, appears to be the capitulation of the Chinese Communist Party and regime change, a triumph best achieved through a strategy of confrontation similar to Ronald Reagan’s policy toward the Soviet Union in the early 1980s.

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