Will there be a Cold War in Asia?

Just a heads-up: I was part of a "Room for Debate" symposium at the New York Times website here. There’s a nice exchange of views, and regular readers of this blog won’t be surprised by my forecast that if China keeps growing economically, a serious security competition between the U.S. and China is nearly inevitable. ...

Walt-Steve-foreign-policy-columnist20
Walt-Steve-foreign-policy-columnist20
Stephen M. Walt
By , a columnist at Foreign Policy and the Robert and Renée Belfer professor of international relations at Harvard University.
MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images
MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images
MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images

Just a heads-up: I was part of a "Room for Debate" symposium at the New York Times website here. There's a nice exchange of views, and regular readers of this blog won't be surprised by my forecast that if China keeps growing economically, a serious security competition between the U.S. and China is nearly inevitable. War is not inevitable, in my view, assuming we get reasonably mature and competent leaders in Washington and Beijing. So cast those ballots carefully come November (and every four years after that).

Just a heads-up: I was part of a "Room for Debate" symposium at the New York Times website here. There’s a nice exchange of views, and regular readers of this blog won’t be surprised by my forecast that if China keeps growing economically, a serious security competition between the U.S. and China is nearly inevitable. War is not inevitable, in my view, assuming we get reasonably mature and competent leaders in Washington and Beijing. So cast those ballots carefully come November (and every four years after that).

For some of my other thoughts on China’s rise, see here, here, and here.

Stephen M. Walt is a columnist at Foreign Policy and the Robert and Renée Belfer professor of international relations at Harvard University. Twitter: @stephenwalt

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