Book review: The China Choice, by Hugh White

by Hugh White
Oxford University Press
4 stars

This book argues that the US must give up leadership of Asia and share power with China, to avoid war and terrible consequences for the world.

Author Hugh White, professor of strategic studies at the Australian National University's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre and principal author of Australia's 2000 Defence White Paper, has been a leading figure in public debates on defence and foreign policy.

When the book was first released in Australia in August last year, it provoked a rapid response from the country's four most recent former prime ministers, the foreign minister and two of his three immediate predecessors.

White's argument is that, within a few years, China will have a larger economy than that of the US, the first country to do so since it overtook Britain in the 1880s. "That makes China, in the long run, more formidable than the Soviets were at the height of the cold war."

This means that, after nearly two centuries, China has become a great power again and wants to be a leader in Asia and is no longer willing to accept the US as the single global and regional leader.

So what are Washington's choices? It can resist China's challenge and try to preserve the status quo, step back from its dominant role, or take on a new role by allowing China a larger role while maintaining a strong presence of its own. argues that the third option best serves American interests.