Summary
This testimony was published by the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services following Evan Medeiros’s June 8, 2021 presentation on the current state of the U.S.-China relationship.
The United States’ Strategic Competition with China
Author: Evan Medeiros
It has become trite but accurate to point out that the U.S.-China relationship is the most consequential relationship in global politics today. But this claim is accurate not only because U.S.-China ties have become contentious and competitive, but because the competition is multifaceted, dynamic and may ultimately be a greater challenge than the Soviet Union. In particular, U.S.-China relations will have a defining influence on the distribution of power across East Asia at the very time that the region becomes the center of global politics, as Europe was during the Cold War. Thus, the Biden administration’s approach to competition with China is now a paramount question for leaders in the United States, in Asia, and globally. The challenge for U.S. policymakers, business leaders and scholars is to understand the nature of the competition – now and in the future – and to ensure U.S. responses are both robust and flexible enough to keep up with the challenge.