China: Enemy or Competitor?

Elbridge Colby, is co‑founder and principal of The Marathon Initiative. He served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development from 2017 through 2018, and led the development of the 2018 National Defense Strategy.

In his recent book, The Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict, In it, Colby addresses our relationship with China in brutally frank terms

Some of the questions he sets out to answer:

• Do we need a grand strategy for China, similar to the Cold War policy of “containing” the former Soviet Union?
• To counter China’s military strength, do we need to remove our troops from Europe and the Middle East, since we are no longer realistically capable of operating in three theaters?
• What should we do if China moves on Taiwan?
• What role would our Western allies play if we confronted China?
• In a US/China conflict, would other Asian nations side with the US or make their own deal with China?
• Has US credibility in Asia been irreparably harmed by our Middle East performance?
• If China is politically dominant in Asia, does that mean they would also dominate the world economy?
• What might a war with China look like?

My WhoWhatWhy.org conversation with Eldridge Colby: