A War Like No Other: The Truth About China's Challenge to America
In 1995, during a heated discussion about that year's Taiwan crisis, a Chinese general remarked to a U.S. diplomat, "In the end, you care more about Los Angeles than you do about Taipei." In a single sentence, he both questioned the level of America's commitment to a longtime ally and threatened massive, perhaps nuclear, retaliation should the United States intervene militarily on Taiwan's behalf. In the end, President Clinton sent two aircraft carriers to the region, and China ceased its military exercises in the Taiwan Strait. A decade later, however, China is much stronger, both economically and militarily, and it holds a significant amount of America's national debt. If another Taiwan crisis should occur-as it almost certainly will-would China back down?
In A War Like No Other, you'll discover how little it would take to transform the close cooperation and friendly rivalry between the United States and the People's Republic of China into the first-ever shooting war between two nuclear powers. This chilling look into one possible future offers thoughtful advice to both governments on how to reduce the chances of such a nightmare actually occurring. Two Brookings Institution scholars offer specific prescriptions on how the two nations can improve communications, especially in times of crisis; avoid risky behavior, even when provoked; and, above all, remember which buttons not to push.
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Book details
- Author
- Richard Bush
- Imprint
- Trade Paper Press, an imprint of Turner Publishing Company
- Published
- Pages
- 240
- Formats
- Hardcover
- Subjects
- Political Science › International Relations › Arms Control
Political Science › Security (National & International) - Topics
- US-China relations · Taiwan · national security · foreign policy · arms control · military conflict · nuclear threat · international relations
- ISBN-13
- 9780471986775
About the author
RICHARD C. BUSH III is a political scientist and foreign policy analyst who has published seven books on East Asia and U.S. foreign policy. His recent books include Difficult Choices: Taiwan’s Quest for Security and the Good Life, The Perils of Proximity: China-Japan Security Relations and Untying the Knot: Making Peace in the Taiwan Strait.
Bush holds a B.A. from Lawrence University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University. He served in the U.S. executive and legislative branches for approximately nineteen years, including as Chairman and Managing Director of the American Institute in Taiwan from 1997 to 2002, and as National Intelligence Officer for East Asia on the National Intelligence Council.
Since 2002, Bush has been a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where he directs the Center for East Asia Policy Studies and holds the Chen-fu and Cecilia Yen Koo Chair in Taiwan Studies.