A Contest for Supremacy: China, America, and the Struggle for Mastery in Asia
“A stern, carefully worded warning about why the United States should be more wary of China’s meteoric rise…. In a meticulously organized study…Friedberg lays out the various ongoing arguments for containment or alignment, as well as what he extrapolates Chinese intentions to be…. An important cry to heed: China’s peaceful rise cannot disguise its aim to become ‘world number one.’” (Kirkus)“…Friedberg’s alarm soundings have authority. China’s new wealth allows it to apply ‘soft power’ in East Asia and elsewhere, its deployment of modern technology has counteracted American influence in the region, and its economy continues to thrive even as America bogs down in two wars. Friedberg’s responses…help keep this important issue front and center.” (Alan Moores - Booklist)“His book is tough-minded and sometimes pessimistic but there is nothing hysterical about it. On the contrary, it is sober and well-informed…A Contest for Supremacyoffers a careful and compelling examination of the US-Chinese relationship from a number of angles.” (Financial Times)“[Friedberg’s] is the most thoughtful and informative of a stream of China-threat books that have come out since the mid-1990s.” (Andrew J. Nathan - Foreign Affairs)“A Contest for Supremacyis a rigorous and comprehensive account of the state of U.S.-China strategic relations, and by far, the most thoughtful and serious book to date on the topic.” (Weekly Standard)“Friedberg has in fact written a judicious, measured assessment of the stakes between China and the United States over the next several decades…. He accurately characterizes the ‘willful, blinkered optimism’ about the direction of Sino-American relations ‘in the academic and business communities and across significant portions of the U.S. government.'….[Friedberg] has relentlessly exposed the intellectual and strategic weaknesses and errors of the prevailing mindset in Washington. For this, in fact, he deserves great credit.” (John R. Bolton - Hong Kong Economic Journal)