Central Michigan University

• The U.S. and China in the 21st century

Topics in this story: College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences, Government and politics, History, News tips and sources, World politics and culture

Randall Doyle, Central Michigan University historian and authority on northeast Asia, predicts that during the 21st century the Asia-Pacific region will again become the focal point of global economic activity and that China and the U.S. will grow closer, economically and militarily, due to their common interests in maintaining peace and prosperity throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Doyle is available for comment on issues pertaining to the history, politics and economies of the U.S. and China.

A few more of Doyle's thoughts on the subject:

• "China and India will re-emerge as economic powerhouses. They lost this distinction at the beginning of the 19th century due to their inability to absorb, adjust, and understand the fundamental elements relating to the Industrial Revolution that emerged in Great Britain and Western Europe, and eventually the U.S., during the latter part of the 18th century."
• "Domestic and international dangers exist in both the U.S. and China. China, historically, has looked for its enemies from within the nation, and those nations with which it shares a common border, again having specific concern about its longtime nemesis, Japan. The U.S. has enjoyed the reality of having two oceans providing security for its eastern and western flanks, but being the most powerful nation in the world, it finds itself increasingly drawn into wars that appeared fruitless and doomed to fail. Plus, the recent catastrophic economic collapse has caused many within the U.S. government, and foreign policy establishment, to re-evaluate the nation's foreign policy priorities."
• "However, as the 21st century unfolds, both China and the U.S. find themselves facing a world that is increasingly fragmented and dangerous due to economic, political and religious volatility, and both are recognizing that their respective power and influence also demands that they accept a greater degree of responsibility for global affairs. The U.S. has basically accepted this reality since the end of WWII, yet China is just beginning to understand its global position and all the expectations and responsibilities that go along with being an emerging hegemonic power."

  
  Randall Doyle is an authority on the history, politics, economy and trade in Australia and northeast Asia, including Korea, Japan and China. His research focuses on U.S. foreign policy and politics, Australian environmental politics, the Pacific Rim, and the Asia-Pacific. He also can speak on military issues in the Asia-Pacific, changing global dynamics, and global hunger. He is the author of "America and China: Asia-Pacific Rim Hegemony in the Twenty-First Century."

  Contact: Heather Smith, 989-774-1702, heather.smith@cmich.edu