19268 - Is War with China over the Western Pacific Inevitable?

Course Overview

How should the United States address with the most aggressive build-up of military forces in the Pacific since Japan’s preparations for war in the 1930s and early 1940s? China is building artificial islands with military bases in the Western Pacific while it spends a considerable portion of its GDP arming its military with massive numbers of new sophisticated weapons.  It regularly threatens democratic Taiwan with military overflights and war games in the waters close to the island, claiming the island’s reunification with the communist mainland is imminent.  China frequently states its grievances with the West as stemming from “a century of humiliation” and demands a change in the international order. We’ll discuss the origins of the current conflicts and the major players.