The United States remains the preeminent power but its position is eroding relative to China. In this competition, the United States is like a patient whose condition is not yet acute, but whose health indicators are trending negative. We are divided at home and diminished abroad.
Meanwhile, China is pursuing strategic investments in tomorrow’s technologies that could allow it to eclipse U.S. technological leadership. While China has pursued the most dramatic military modernization since World War II, the United States has been distracted by conflicts in the Middle East and in Europe—and has demonstrated that the world’s most expensive military is remarkably ill-equipped to prevail in either.
The United States—and its position in the world—have changed. Both political parties are experiencing a profound disorientation in their foreign policy thinking. The Biden administration was likely the last attempt at a “restoration presidency” that would revive the old order. The way forward is not clear and a new consensus has not yet been forged.
This project aims to fill this vacuum by bringing together the top experts across the Brookings Institution and the country to address one overarching question: What steps can the United States take to succeed in competition with China?
This project will answer this question by devising novel policy solutions across eight areas—four on the home front, and four from our foreign policy toolkit.
The home front
- Identifying coherent bipartisan policies.
- Finding ways and means for a strong foreign policy.
- Investing in tomorrow’s tech.
- Securing supply chains.
Foreign policy
- Focusing the U.S. military on China.
- Renovating U.S. economic statecraft.
- Identifying key international partners in a multipolar world.
- Assessing and dealing with China.
The Brookings Institution is uniquely well-positioned to answer this in its many dimensions—both on the home front and abroad. It is home to the nation’s top experts on economic and governance issues, and the Brookings’ China Center has the deepest and widest assemblage of China expertise of any think tank in Washington. The Brookings Institution was born in a moment not unlike this one in 1916, in the midst of World War I. It was part of that period’s efforts to cultivate nonpartisan expertise on the most pressing policy challenges of the day. This project will tap into Brookings’ deep tradition of evidence-based scholarship and innovative thinking to tackle the toughest geopolitical challenge of our time—China’s arrival as a great power.