BOOK REVIEW: LESSONS FROM THE NEW COLD WAR: AMERICA CONFRONTS THE CHINA CHALLENGE
By Hal Brands (Editor) /Johns Hopkins University Press
Reviewed by: Martin Petersen
The Reviewer — Martin Petersen is a CIA veteran, Asia expert, and a Cipher Brief Expert. He is the author of City of Lost Souls, A Novel of Shanghai 1932
REVIEW — Lessons from the New Cold War is a useful survey of the major issues in the Sino-U.S. competition for global influence that is likely to dominate at least the first half of this century, as the Cold War with the Soviet Union dominated the last half of the 20th Century. Dr. Brands is the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
Seventeen prominent China scholars contributed short pieces on four broad themes: trade, technology, and economics; allies, partners, and the struggle for Asia; politics, strategy, intelligence, and values; and America and China in a shifting global order. As is often the case with this type of book, some of the pieces are stronger than others.
I thought four of the pieces were particularly good. Liza Tobin looks at the interlocking nature of the U.S.-China economic relationship and argues that if the United States is to prevail, it must do a better job of protecting its technological advantages, do more to promote U.S. domestic competitiveness, and work closely with democratic market economies to counter China’s aggressive economic tactics. Michael Mazarr examines the U.S.-China defense competition. He argues that for the U.S. to meet the Chinese challenge, we must strengthen our alliances, reform our military procurement, meet the cyber and artificial intelligence challenge, and reevaluate our military doctrine and force structure.
Zack Cooper argues that blunting the Chinese threat to Taiwan will require more effort on the part of Taipei, but also Washington must do more to help the Philippines and others to manage other flashpoints in the South China Sea –-“the grey zone area”—where Beijing has steadily increased its presence and capabilities and adopted ever more aggressive tactics. Peter Mattis offers an analysis of the U.S.-China intelligence competition. He argues that only in terms of intelligence partnerships does the U.S. hold an advantage over China.
All the contributors point to a lack of strategy on the part of the U.S. regarding the China challenge. All acknowledge a growing appreciation of the threat and first steps toward meeting it. But I was left with the impression that all feel that the U.S. is behind the curve and that Chairman Xi’s China has the leg up with its focused and relentless pursuit of its goals, economic, political, military, and technological.
The strength of Lessons from the New Cold War is also its weakness. It is a fine overview of the issues, well organized, and well argued. But it is not saying much that is different from many of the other China books we have reviewed, and because it is a collection, Lessons from the New Cold War cannot go into the depth of other books like The Long Game, World on the Brink, Lost Decade, or Destined for War.
It is a good book to start with if you are just beginning to think about the China challenge, and for that reason I give it three trench coats.
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