The China Fallacy: How the US Can Benefit from China’s Rise and Avoid another Cold War

Abanti Bhattacharya

Dr. Abanti Bhattacharya is Associate Professor at the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi. Prior to this she was Associate Fellow at Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. read more

There have been many studies on US foreign policy towards China dwelling specifically on the efficacy of the US strategy of containment. Donald Gross’s book is an addition to this genre. It basically challenges the wisdom of the current US policy of containing China and offers a ‘new paradigm’ for ‘stable peace’ as an alternative approach for dealing with China and yet keeping US dominance in the Asia-Pacific intact. This new paradigm provides for greater cooperation, co-existence and accommodation with the rising dragon to ensure long-term peace in the international system. He criticises the China hawks for their misplaced fear of a rising China and the inevitability of a US–China conflict, and thereby highlights the current erroneous US strategy of hedging—from Bush to Obama—through military build-up and alliances. He calls for a debunking of the fallacy of the inevitability of a US–China conflict and calls for the embracing of the goal of rapprochement through ‘reciprocal restraint’.