US-China Strategic Competition

This book examines the nature and consequences of strategic competition between the US and China, which affects the global security landscape and the emerging security architecture across the broader Asia-Pacific region. The author illustrates the evolution of Sino-US security interactions from the anti-Soviet alliance, to temporary marginalization, to eventual strategic competition and examines cases that could potentially escalate into greater conflicts. The analysis offers tantalizing glimpses into both the dangers and promising opportunities presented by this strategic fork in the road, making it of great interest to researchers and scholars in the fields of international relations and security studies.

S. Mahmud Ali was trained at the Pakistan Military Academy and educated at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies (RUSI), London, and King's College London, where he earned graduate and doctoral qualifications in geopolitical and strategic studies. After a two-decade career at the British Broadcasting Corporation, London, he was associated with the LSE IDEAS and has been associated with the ICS, UM, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, since 2017. Ali is the author of eight volumes on the evolution of Sino-US relations.

Preface.- 1 From Tacit Allies to Strategic Competitors.- 2 System Transitional Fluidity.- 3 The Asian Pivot and a New Bipolarity.- 4 Maritime Disputes: Regional Hotspots or Systemic Flashpoints?.- 5 Strategic Competition in a Globalised World.- 6 Accommodation or Annihilation?.