Sino-American Crisis Management and the U.S.-Japan Alliance

Swaine, Michael D.

Book

Sino-American Crisis Management and the U.S.-Japan Alliance

An assessment of the degree to which Washington and Beijing are willing or able to implement crisis management principles like maintaining direct channels of communication and preserving military flexibility.

By Michael D. Swaine

Published on Jan 29, 2009

Source: In The Japan-U.S. Alliance and China-Taiwan Relations

An examination of “political-military crisis” and “crisis management” in the context of Sino-U.S. relations. Swaine identifies several key principles of successful crisis management: among them, maintain direct channels of communication and send signals that are clear, specific, and detailed; preserve limited objectives and limited means on behalf of such objectives, and sacrifice unlimited goals; and preserve military flexibility, escalate slowly, and respond symmetrically (in a “tit-for-tat” manner). It assess the degree to which Washington and Beijing are willing or able to implement these principles, and examines the difficulties involved in applying such principles to a Sino-U.S. crisis over Taiwan in particular. Swaine concludes with some observations on the implications of this analysis for the U.S.-Japan alliance and Japanese crisis behavior and offers some recommendations.

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.

Recent Work

Other
What Kind of Global Order Should Washington and Beijing Strive For?
- Michael D. Swaine
Commentary
A Smarter U.S. Strategy for China in Four Steps
- Michael D. Swaine

North America United States East Asia China Taiwan Japan Political Reform Security Military Foreign Policy

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.

More Work from Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center

Commentary
Diwan
In the Trump Gaza Plan, Diplomatic Failure is Success
By failing to address Palestinian representation, the current process is bound to lead to just another temporary arrangement.
Nathan J. Brown
Paper
Egypt’s Military Landlord Economy and its Limitations
The armed forces champion a form of capitalism that is generating revenue, but its reliance on rent faces diminishing returns, leaving the country with massive sunk costs and deferred returns, deepening dependency on external borrowing.
Yezid Sayigh
Article
From Hormuz to the Maghreb: The Geopolitical Reach of a Gulf Crisis
Morocco and Algeria, each in its own way, are having to navigate the global economic fallout of the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran.
Yasmine Zarhloule
Commentary
Diwan
New Syria, Old Lebanon: Absence of the State
Any move by the United States to make good on Trump’s suggestion that Washington persuade Damascus to confront Hezbollah militarily would have catastrophic consequences.
Kheder Khaddour
Commentary
Diwan
Lebanon Should Try to Place Hezbollah on the U.S.-Iran Table
As talks begin between Washington and Tehran, Beirut has an opening to advance a regional plan for the party’s disarmament.
Michael Young

More Work from Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center

Commentary

Diwan

In the Trump Gaza Plan, Diplomatic Failure is Success

By failing to address Palestinian representation, the current process is bound to lead to just another temporary arrangement.

Nathan J. Brown

Paper

Egypt’s Military Landlord Economy and its Limitations

The armed forces champion a form of capitalism that is generating revenue, but its reliance on rent faces diminishing returns, leaving the country with massive sunk costs and deferred returns, deepening dependency on external borrowing.

Yezid Sayigh

Article

From Hormuz to the Maghreb: The Geopolitical Reach of a Gulf Crisis

Morocco and Algeria, each in its own way, are having to navigate the global economic fallout of the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran.

Yasmine Zarhloule

Commentary

Diwan

New Syria, Old Lebanon: Absence of the State

Any move by the United States to make good on Trump’s suggestion that Washington persuade Damascus to confront Hezbollah militarily would have catastrophic consequences.

Kheder Khaddour

Commentary

Diwan

Lebanon Should Try to Place Hezbollah on the U.S.-Iran Table

As talks begin between Washington and Tehran, Beirut has an opening to advance a regional plan for the party’s disarmament.

Michael Young