The China Choice

China is rising – how should America respond? That could be the crucial question of the twenty-first century, according to strategic expert Hugh White. It is also a crucial question for Australia, affecting our future economy and security.

In this essential book, White considers the options for the Asian century.

As China's economy grows to become the world's largest, America has three choices: it can compete, share power or concede leadership in Asia. The choice is momentous – as significant for America's future as any it has faced.

White controversially argues that America's best option is to share power with China and relinquish its supremacy. As these two behemoths face off across the Pacific, the choice America makes will also have an enormous impact on Australia. The China Choice is an urgent intervention in the China debate and provides a blueprint for a peaceful future.

Shortlisted, 2013 Asia Society Bernard Schwartz Book Award

‘White brings erudition and a first-rate intellect, without the baggage of prejudice, to analyse the single most important issue that will determine whether Australia lives in a peaceable environment in the years ahead – a must-read.’ —Bob Hawke

‘Hugh White's The China Choice is an exceptionally thoughtful synthesis of the arguments and influences which bear upon the coming shape of the Pacific.’ —Paul Keating

‘Hugh White’s book offers the finest synthesis to date of all the major questions facing East Asia. It is a provocative work imbued with intellectual integrity. It is about the biggest question in international affairs – the future relationship between the United States and China. And the author’s conclusions will satisfy no one, which is as it should be.’ —Robert D. Kaplan, chief geopolitical analyst for Stratfor and author of The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate

‘The future of the US–China relationship is the single most significant and dangerous international issue of our time. Hugh White’s book is a brilliant and incisive analysis of that relationship, and contains vitally important recommendations for how its dangers may be avoided and peace secured. It is indispensable reading for both policy makers and students of current affairs.’ —Anatol Lieven, King’s College London, author of America Right or Wrong: An Anatomy of American Nationalism

‘White marches us through the hard strategic implications of sustained economic growth in China. This clear and compelling book helps Australians to move beyond today’s sentiment and wishful thinking, and to consider realistically the choices that we face.’ —Ross Garnaut

‘An important contribution to our understanding of a vital relationship.’ —General Peter Cosgrove, Chief of the Australian Defence Force 2002–05

‘Hugh White's cogent analysis is timely, and highly recommended.’ —Melbourne Review

‘Hugh White has done us a great service in setting out a vision of of one way in which China’s rise may play out.’ —Australian Book Review

‘Highly accessible, thoroughly informed and intricately argued.’ —the Age

Hugh White is the author of The China Choice: Why America Should Share Power and Quarterly Essay 39 Power Shift: Australia’s Future between Washington and Beijing. He is a professor of strategic studies at ANU and a visiting fellow at the Lowy Institute.