What idea (or ideas) will drive the Biden administration’s national security policy? The Trump administration replaced the “global war on terror” with “great power competition” as the organizing principle of U.S. national security policy, framing U.S.-China relations as a “strategic competition.”
American and Chinese perceptions of each other are hardening at the moment that China is becoming more capable across multiple domains, which intensifies bilateral competition. The United States’ core challenge is to deter various Chinese behaviors without increasing the chance of catastrophic conflict. What are the perils of strategic competition? What degrees of risk and costs should the United States and its allies assume to shape and deter China without provoking armed conflict?
In an interview conducted on May 12, 2021, Dr. Evan Medeiros discusses how conflict and conflict prevention are becoming increasingly central to American China policy as competition prevails in the policy framework.
