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China competes in every domain
The contest with the People's Republic of China runs across military and ideological competition, space and cyberspace, and a revolution in technology unlike anything seen since the Industrial Revolution more than two centuries ago. That revolution is transforming the competition in each domain.
In one way the response still looks like the Cold War: it takes an all-of-government approach that harnesses hard power like the military, soft power, the intelligence community, diplomacy, and commercial competition.
The United States holds advantages. Its economic and political system is agile and at its best can learn from its mistakes and adapt. It also has a network of allies and partners that lonelier rivals like China and Russia lack. The US is no longer the only big kid on the geopolitical block, as it was for a quarter century after the Cold War, and China, like the Soviet Union, is formidable but isn't 10 feet tall.
Why do alliances matter in great power rivalry?
The United States built a network of treaty alliances after World War II, including NATO in 1949 and later pacts with Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Australia. Allies provide bases, intelligence sharing, and a combined economic weight that no single state matches. NATO's founding treaty says an attack on one member is an attack on all. Article 5 of that treaty has been invoked once, after the September 11 attacks in 2001.
How did the US organize for the Cold War?
The National Security Act of 1947 restructured the American government for a long rivalry with the Soviet Union. It created the National Security Council to coordinate policy across agencies and established the CIA. It also brought the military services under a single national defense establishment. Diplomacy, intelligence, and the military were meant to work from a common plan.
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