To Compete with China, Can America Get Out of Its Own Way?

War on the Rocks

News, Politics

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 7 February 2018

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Two key strategy documents released by the Trump administration signal the United States is finally gearing up for a new era of great power competition. And China is the most daunting competitor on the horizon. Is this the right move? Is the president on board? Are America's allies up for it? What would a war of choice in North Korea do to a Sino-American competition? How can and should America compete politically, economically, and militarily? Was it naive to expect China to become a responsible stakeholder to begin with?

To answer these questions and more, Kelly Magsamen of the Center for American Progress and Ely Ratner of the Council on Foreign Relations sat down with Ryan at WOTR HQ with the aid of three kinds of whisk(e)y. Both Kelly and Ely drew on their experiences in the Obama administration, in which they both served in senior capacities.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to Warren The Rocks, podcast on strategy, defense and foreign affairs. my name is Ryan Evans, I'm the
0:14.3	editor-in-chief of Warren the Rocks. I'm sitting here today with two friends
0:17.6	and special guests, Kelly Maximin and Eli Ratner. Why don't you each tell us
0:21.5	who you are and where you've been?
0:23.0	Kelly Magsman, I'm currently the Vice President for National Security and
0:26.7	International Policy at the Center for American Progress. Prior to that I had a
0:31.2	stint in the Obama administration
0:33.0	at both the White House and the Pentagon
0:34.5	working on Asia issues.
0:36.4	Hi, this is Eli Ratner.
0:37.6	I'm currently the Maurice R Greenberg Senior Fellow
0:40.4	in China Studies at the Council of Foreign Relations and during the Obama administration
0:45.4	served toward the end in the Office of the Vice President and a little bit earlier at the
0:49.7	State Department at the China Desk.
0:51.8	So China is apparently a big issue from what I can tell in the newspaper anyway.
0:57.0	And this is an issue that you both think a lot about and broader Asian issues.
1:01.0	And so I'd like to talk about that. and I guess what I want to open with is the
1:05.3	National Security Strategy and especially the National Defense Strategy which were
1:08.6	both released recently really emphasized the idea of great power competition. Is that the right move as far as
1:15.9	China's concerns specifically? I think it is. I think it's long overdue and I think those
1:21.6	documents did two things in particular, like you said, the National Defense Strategy more directly than the national security strategy.
1:30.0	They both recognize China as a strategic competitor and we can talk a little bit about what that means.
	...

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