Contenu
The manuscript explores why and how American political leaders, pundits, and scholars underestimated China for more than four decades. Bregolat asks why so many American policymakers and opinion-shapers supported US engagement with China via normalized diplomatic relations, normalized trade relations, scientific and military cooperation, economic assistance, foreign direct investment, support for China’s entry into the WTO, and opening of the American market while failing to see that China was poised to become a major power that would challenge America and its interests.
The author works from the premise that national power stems from aggregate wealth. He argues it should have been clearer in the late 20the century that China was on track to become a major global power. The book demonstrates China’s economic development and geopolitical impact from the 1970s to the present and explores US policy toward China from multiple angles. The author then assesses the dysfunction in the American political system, The epilogue offers a European perspective on Chinese and American power in contemporary world affairs.
The book also features a foreword by Javier Solana, former Secretary General of NATO and High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union.
Eugenio Bregolat is a retired Spanish diplomat. He served as head of the International Department in the staff of the two first Spanish Prime Ministers and as Spanish Ambassador to China on three separate occasions. He is the author of The Second Chinese Revolution (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015).