CIAO DATE: 07/2013
October 2011
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales
Today, Pakistan is perhaps the hardest challenge for U.S. foreign policy. By comparison, a foreign policy challenge such as the U.S. relationship with China seems more straightforward. For starters, there is a broad understanding of what U.S. policy towards Beijing should be. While there are differences on the margins, U.S. policy towards China follow s a certain course that is easy to appreciate, at least conceptually: it involves a balancing of competing security and economic interests . The United States seeks to preserve the gains arising from economic interdependence with China, while simultaneously deterring China from misusing the growing power arising from its economic ties with the wider world. Toward this end, the United States continues to engage China on one hand, while on the other hand maintaining a robust military capability and a strong network of allies and friends in the Indo - Pacific. Although implementing such a strategy is often challenging in practice, it is aided by the fact that there is a continuing demand for American presence on the part of the Asian states and, furthermore, because there is a certain equilibrium in the U.S. - China relationship. This equilibrium may not survive forever, but at least for the moment, it is on a reasonably even keel.
Resource link: Managing Frenemies: What Should the United States Do About Pakistan? [PDF]