2007-04-19 22:11:15 -
WASHINGTON, April 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is being issued by The Brookings Institution:
Thursday, April 26, 2007
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
The Brookings Institution
Falk Auditorium
1775 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC
Strategists dwell on how the rise of China will affect the position of the United States in East Asia and the world. They debate strategies of containment, hedging, and accommodation. But they discuss less precisely which points of Sino-American friction could result in conflict. In A War Like No Other, published in April 2007 by Wiley and Sons, Brookings scholars Richard Bush and Michael O'Hanlon argue that despite the tricky dynamics of great- power transitions, Washington and Beijing can probably manage China's rise to produce a cooperative relationship with the possible exception of one issue -- the Taiwan Strait.
On April 26, Bush and O'Hanlon will offer recommendations on how the two nations can improve communications, especially in times of crisis; avoid risky behavior, even when provoked; and, above all, remember which buttons not to push. Michael Green, former senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council, will serve as commentator. A question and answer session will follow the discussion. Copies of A War Like No Other will be available for sale at the event.
In their provocative volume, Bush and O'Hanlon make two other compelling points. First of all, war in the Taiwan Strait will not occur through deliberate choice but because of misperception and miscalculation between Beijing and Taipei. Second, they suggest the real danger is that the ensuing conflict would escalate very quickly, and transform the close cooperation and friendly rivalry between the U.S. and China into the first-ever shooting war between two nuclear powers.
Authors:
Richard Bush
Senior Fellow and Director
Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies
The Brookings Institution
Michael O'Hanlon
Senior Fellow
Foreign Policy Studies
The Brookings Institution
Commentator:
Michael Green
Japan Chair and Senior Advisor
Center for Strategic and International Studies;
Associate Professor, Georgetown University
RSVP: Please call the Brookings Office of Communications, 202/797-6105 or register online at http://onlinepressroom.net/brookings/
Source: Brookings Institution
