April 10, 2019
Russia and China are outwitting America
With U.S. politics as polarized as at any point in modern history, it would seem an unlikely moment for a new bipartisan consensus about U.S. foreign policy to emerge. Yet that’s precisely what has happened over the past 18 months, as Democrats and Republicans alike have embraced the idea of “great-power competition,” with China and Russia as a common framework for thinking and talking about the world.
There is much to commend about this shift. For starters, it has the virtue of reflecting reality — a belated recognition that Beijing and Moscow are not becoming “responsible stakeholders” in a U.S.-led liberal world order, as Washington long hoped, but rather have entrenched interests and values that are profoundly at odds with those of the United States and its allies.
What’s less commendable is the way U.S. national security circles have so far framed great-power rivalry with China and Russia: describing the problem almost exclusively as a competition for technological and military superiority.
Read the full article in The Washington Post.
More from CNAS
-
Global Supply Chains, Economic Decoupling, and U.S.-China Relations, Part 1: The View from the United States
Commentary
The trade war has defined the current adversarial relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). While President Donald J. Trump has at times...
By Sagatom Saha & Ashley Feng
-
How China Is Exploiting the Pandemic to Export Authoritarianism
Commentary
The Chinese Communist Party is now undertaking its most audacious effort yet at shaping international perceptions....
By David Shullman
-
Forging an Alliance Innovation Base
Reports
Executive Summary This report presents a blueprint for a community of technology innovation and protection anchored by America and its allies. Unless the United States builds ...
By Daniel Kliman, Ben FitzGerald, Kristine Lee & Joshua Fitt
-
Sharper: Global Coronavirus Response
Commentary
As regions across the United States enforce states of emergency and a growing list of countries restrict travel, close schools, and quarantine citizens, the economic and human...
By Chris Estep & Cole Stevens
