Geography Lessons: American Decline and the Challenge of Asia

The United States' Pacific-centric perspective on Asia has kept it from fully appreciating the relative decline of US power in continental Asia west of China, which the US withdrawal from Afghanistan illuminates. During the 20-year US intervention there, the combined economies of the countries...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSurvival (London) Vol. 64; no. 1; pp. 121 - 130
Main Author Rubin, Barnett R.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Routledge 02.01.2022
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Afghanistan
Afghanistan War
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
B3W
Belt and Road Initiative
Build Back Better World
Central Asia
China
Climate change
Geography
Human rights
Indo-Pacific
Infrastructure
International cooperation
Intervention
Northeast Asia
Power
Quad
Quadrilateral Security Dialogue
Regional security
Silk Road
Afghanistan
United States > US
Asia
China
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Summary:The United States' Pacific-centric perspective on Asia has kept it from fully appreciating the relative decline of US power in continental Asia west of China, which the US withdrawal from Afghanistan illuminates. During the 20-year US intervention there, the combined economies of the countries surrounding Afghanistan grew from five-sixths the size of the US economy to almost twice its size. China's massive Belt and Road Initiative responds to genuine needs in the region. The United States' Build Back Better World (B3W) programme appears insufficient to offset it. Since the US became a global power, it has not faced a peer competitor comparable to China. Washington needs to cooperate with Beijing on connectivity, climate security and regional security in Central and Northeast Asia, even while challenging it on Taiwan, the South China Sea, trade and human-rights issues.
ISSN:0039-6338
1468-2699
DOI:10.1080/00396338.2022.2032984