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Retrench, Defend, Compete: Securing America’s Future Against a Rising China

Published By Cornell University Press •
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Featuring
Charles Glaser Circle
Dr. Charles L. Glaser

Author and Senior Fellow, MIT Security Studies Program

Patricia M. Kim portrait
Dr. Patricia M. Kim

Fellow in Foreign Policy, Brookings Institution

The debate about US policy toward China hinges on rarely stated judgments about the nature of the challenge. Is China mainly a revisionist or a status quo state? Should the United States keep all its international commitments amid China’s rise? What military posture can best defend those commitments? In his latest book, Retrench, Defend, Compete, Charles Glaser assesses these first-order questions and promotes an alternative US strategy toward China that would retrench from some US commitments in Asia and bolster others. Please join us as Glaser and Patricia Kim discuss the book and grapple with the range of US choices, from grand strategic judgments to specific foreign and military policies.

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Retrench, Defend, Compete cover
Featured Book

Retrench, Defend, Compete: Securing America’s Future Against a Rising China

Many believe China’s ascent will drive it to war with the United States. Yet this is far from inevitable; geography and nuclear weapons should ensure US security. The real danger, Glaser contends, lies in East Asia’s territorial disputes, especially over Taiwan. To reduce the risk of war, Glaser makes a bold case for ending US security commitments to Taiwan and carefully calibrating its policies on protecting South China Sea maritime features. The United States should also strengthen its alliances with Japan and South Korea and eliminate unnecessarily provocative nuclear and conventional weapons policies. These measures, Glaser argues, would defuse China’s biggest security concerns while preserving America’s core strategic interests.