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The U.S.-China Relationship Will Be the Fulcrum for U.S. Policy in East Asia

• The United States needs a strategy that recognizes shared interests with China at the global level, the real potential for friction in the Western Pacific, and the challenge of balancing the two. Developing such a strategy will be more difficult in practice than in theory.
• U.S. military strategy will need to be flexible and resilient given China's increased capabilities, which will place significant demands on the U.S. Army.
• Robust military-to-military relations between the United States and China will be a necessary part of the overall U.S. effort to improve understanding and increase transparency. The Army will play an important part in these arrangements.

The Army Will Play Critical Roles in Supporting U.S. Strategy in the Asia-Pacific Region

• The Army will be committed to a wide range of partnership-building activities with friends and allies in the region.
• The Army will be responsible for conducting and supporting joint military operations, which may place significantly greater demands on its combat support and combat service support forces than have recent conflicts.
• The Army will need to explore ways of expanding its role in countering Chinese anti-access/area-denial capabilities.

For the next 20 or more years, the U.S. relationship with China will be the fulcrum on which the East Asian security order balances. As a result, U.S. policy should seek to prevent the emergence of an overtly hostile U.S.-China relationship while hedging against the possibility that one could nonetheless emerge. Such a strategy must balance between protecting U.S. interests in East Asia, where clashes with China's preferences are most likely, and cooperating with Beijing globally where the two sides have common objectives. Crafting and sustaining such a strategy will be a major challenge. It must have clear and realistic goals flowing from larger U.S. interests and strategy in the region, take into account the need for U.S.-China cooperation on a host of global security and economic matters, be flexible and responsive to Chinese moves, seek to channel Chinese conduct in favorable directions, and reflect the new realities of Asia resulting from China's increased military and economic power. The U.S. Army will have an important role to play in supporting U.S. strategy in the Asia-Pacific, primarily by providing training and support to allies and partners; helping to defend key facilities from enemy ground, air, and missile attack; providing key enabling support to the joint force; projecting expeditionary combat forces into the theater; contributing to new conventional deterrent options; and helping to encourage China's participation in cooperative military-to-military engagements.

• Chapter One

  Introduction

• Chapter Two

  The Evolving Strategic Environment

• Chapter Three

  Chinese Interests and Strategy

• Chapter Four

  U.S. Interests and Policies

• Chapter Five

  U.S. Military Strategy and Posture

• Chapter Six

  The U.S. Army in Asia

• Chapter Seven

  Conclusions

• Appendix A

  Differentiating Between a "Systemic Continuity" and a "Hegemonic" China