China Debate

May 9, 2019

Be it resolved, China is a threat to the liberal international order…

Increasingly in the West, China is being characterized as a threat to the liberal international order, one that must be overcome through economic, political, technological and even military means. Supposedly, free and open societies, led by the United States, need to push back against the policies of the Chinese Communist Party to preserve a rules-based international order in 21st century.

For others, this approach spells disaster. It ignores the history and dynamics propelling China’s peaceful rise to superpower status. Rather than undermining the post-war order, China is its best, and maybe only, guarantor in an era of declining U.S. leadership, increased regional instability and slowing global growth.