Asia's Reckoning: China, Japan, and the Fate of U.S. Power in the Pacific Century

Description

"A history of the combative military, diplomatic, and economic relations among China, Japan and the United States since the 1970s--and the potential crisis that lies ahead. Richard McGregor's Asia's Reckoning is a compelling account of the widening geopolitical divisions in a region that has flourished under an American security umbrella for more than half a century. The toxic rivalry between China and Japan, two Asian giants consumed with endless history wars and ruled by entrenched political dynasties, is threatening to upend the peace underwritten by Pax Americana since World War II. Combined with Donald Trump's disdain for America's old alliances and China's own regional ambitions, East Asia is entering a new era of instability and conflict. If the United States laid the postwar foundations for modern Asia, which is now the anchor of the global economy, Asia's Reckoning reveals how that structure is coming apart.^ With unrivaled access to archives in the United States and Asia, as well as to many of the major players in all three countries, Richard McGregor has written an account that blends the tectonic shifts in diplomacy with bitter domestic politics and the personalities driving them. It is a story not only of an overstretched America, but also of the rise and fall and rise of the great powers of Asia. The about-turn of Japan--from a colossus seemingly poised for world domination to a nation in inexorable decline in the space of two decades--has few parallels in modern history, as does the rapid rise of China, a country whose military is now larger than those of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia combined. The confrontational course on which China and Japan are set is no simple spat between neighbors, for the United States would be obligated to support Japan in any military conflict that arose between the two.^ The fallout would be an economic tsunami, affecting manufacturing centers, trade routes, and political capitals on every continent. Asia's Reckoning takes us behind the headlines of McGregor's decades of reporting in the region to show how American power will stand or fall on its ability to hold its ground in Asia."--Jacket.

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