The U.S. Doesn’t Need China’s Collapse to WinA misguided theory of great-power competition will only lead to grief.By Robert A. Manning, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and its New American Engagement Initiative. U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping.Then-U.S. President Donald Trump takes part in a welcoming ceremony with China’s President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Nov. 9, 2017. THOMAS PETER-POOL/GETTY IMAGES MARCH 24, 2021, 7:31 AM I often think of the evolution of U.S.-China policy as the five stages of grief. The United States was too long in denial, unwilling to admit that Washington’s long-standing assumptions about Beijing had proved wrong. Then came former U.S. President Donald Trump’s reckoning and anger for unbridled strategic competition. And now, U.S. President Joe Biden mostly continues that, though he may be headed toward the bargaining stage. I suspect depression will soon follow, though I wonder about getting to acceptance. But what, exactly, is the goal of current U.S. strategy toward China? Is there a 21st century Cold War-Kennan approach? This month in Foreign Policy, Zack Cooper and Hal Brands argued that “Washington has accepted the reality of competition without identifying a theory of victory.” Perhaps. But maybe that is good, given their idea of victory. ­­ Cooper and Brands explore the directions Biden’s “extreme competition” might go. The authors rightly explain that “there are many possible outcomes to the Sino-American competition, from the United States ceding a sphere of influence to China, to mutual accommodation, to Chinese collapse, to a devastating global conflict.” Robert A. Manning is a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and its New American Engagement Initiative. Twitter: @Rmanning4 TAGS: CHINA, GREAT POWER POLITICS, UNITED STATES NEW EMAIL ALERTS FP subscribers can now receive alerts when new stories on these topics and regions are published. 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