This panel is co-sponsored with the Institute for Peace & Diplomacy

There is a growing divergence among realists and restrainers on the issue of U.S.-China policy. On one side, a belief that Beijing has aims of regional if not global hegemony, and that Washington has a responsibility to its allies and partners to lead the security challenge and contain China’s perceived ambitions. On the other, a belief that the China “threat” has been inflated, that Beijing’s regional ambitions are not a direct threat to the United States, and that its hostility has in many ways been a reaction to aggressive Western behavior. At the very most, the U.S. should help its friends in the region defend itself to balance the power of competing interests but without the US leading the charge.

The Quincy Institute has brought together two brilliant speakers (and Quincy Institute non-resident fellows) to argue the question: Professor John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago will argue that China is indeed a threat that needs to be contained, while David Kang of the University of Southern California will argue against containment, and that an aggressive military response is unnecessary and unduly escalatory. Kelley Vlahos, Editorial Director of Responsible Statecraft, will moderate.