ABSTRACT

The challenge presented by a rising China is the principal issue facing American foreign policy. This is not always obvious to most Americans or even to many of our leaders. Since the end of the Cold War, defense policy has been absorbed in second-order problems of deterring or defeating mid-level powers such as Iraq, North Korea and Serbia, and in third-order problems of peacekeeping and humanitarian intervention. Over the long term, however, the first priority of a serious foreign policy is to handle challenges from discontented, nuclear-armed, major powers.