Avoiding the 'Thucydides Trap': U.S.-China Relations in Strategic Domains

As the relationship between China and the United States becomes increasingly complex and interdependent, leaders in Beijing and Washington are struggling to establish a solid common foundation on which to expand and deepen bilateral relations.

In order to examine the challenges facing U.S.-China relations, the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) and the Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding (iGCU) at Peking University brought together a group of leading experts from China and the United States in Beijing and Honolulu to develop a conceptual foundation for U.S.-China relations into the future, tackling the issues in innovative ways under the banner of U.S.-China Relations in Strategic Domains.

The resulting chapters assess U.S.-China relations in the maritime and nuclear sectors as well as in cyberspace and space and through the lens of P2P and mil-to-mil exchanges. Scholars and students in political science and international relations are thus presented with a diagnosis and prognosis of the relations between the two superpowers.

Dong Wang is Associate Professor at the School of International Studies and Executive Director of the Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding (iGCU), Peking University. He has written extensively on U.S.-China relations and China's foreign policy.

Travis N. Tanner is President of the U.S.-China Strong Foundation. Based in Beijing, Mr. Tanner has more than 15 years of experience working on U.S.-China relations. Mr. Tanner is the author, contributing author, or co-editor of numerous publications on the strategic, economic, and political dimensions of the U.S.-China relationship, including five volumes of the Strategic Asia series.