The Ideology Barriers to Anti-China Coalitions

How should the United States respond to the China challenge? The Donald Trump administration’s 2018 National Defense Strategy predicted that “as China continues its economic and military ascendance... [it will seek] regional hegemony in the near-term and displacement of the United States to achieve global preeminence in the future.” Subsequently, President Joe Biden asserted in an April 2021 address to Congress that the US rivalry with China is about who will “win the 21st century.” Many scholars and policymakers advocate active balancing policies, including the creation of a US-led Indo-Pacific coalition system. For years, John Mearsheimer, a leading international relations theorist, has urged US leaders “to form a balancing coalition with as many of China’s neighbors as possible.” “The ultimate aim,” he argues, “would be to build an alliance structure along the lines of NATO” against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Another prominent scholar of international relations, Graham Allison, concurs: “When it comes to doing what it can [to balance China], Washington should focus above all on its alliances and partnerships... who together will constitute a correlation of forces to which China will have to adjust.” Washington is heeding this advice. While Republicans and Democrats currently agree on little, many find common ground on the need to balance a rising China by creating robust coalitions. Officials in both the Trump and Biden administrations have pushed for NATO states to focus on the China threat, while also endeavoring to forge closer security ties with numerous states