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    "Michael D. Swaine"
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Source: Getty

In The Media
Carnegie China

No Collision Course

Many Sinologists have labored for years to disabuse lay readers of the notion that contemporary China is a modern-day imperial dynasty bent on dominating Asia and beyond.

Link Copied
By Michael D. Swaine
Published on Jun 30, 2017

Source: New York Times

To the Editor:

Judith Shapiro’s review (June 18) of two recent books by Howard W. French (“Everything Under the Heavens”) and Graham Allison (“Destined for War”) uncritically reinforces two prevailing myths about modern China. Many Sinologists have labored for years to disabuse lay readers of the notion that contemporary China is a modern-day imperial dynasty bent on dominating Asia and beyond. But Shapiro (channeling French) buys into this delusion without any qualms.

Similarly, many international relations specialists have incisively challenged Allison’s flawed application of the so-called Thucydides’s Trap to Sino-United States relations, yet Shapiro sees the argument as confirmation of French. The overall result is yet another simplistic affirmation of the “China threat” thesis.

MICHAEL D. SWAINE
WASHINGTON

This letter to the editor was originally published in the New York Times.

About the Author

Michael D. Swaine

Former Senior Fellow, Asia Program

Swaine was a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and one of the most prominent American analysts in Chinese security studies.

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Michael D. Swaine
Former Senior Fellow, Asia Program
Michael D. Swaine
Foreign PolicySecurityMilitaryEast AsiaChinaNorth AmericaUnited States

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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