In recent years, relations between China and the United States have deteriorated precipitously. Wedges have been driven into their relationship by many issues, and as a consequence, nearly every bilateral issue has become securitised. Both countries increasingly cast the other as an adversary, as reflected in their national security documents, statements, and media.

In a new report, “Regional End States and Beyond”, Manpreet Sethi, Frank O’Donnell, and Joel Petersson-Ivre, discuss how Asia-Pacific states view the China-US relationship. Based on interviews, writings, and interactions with policy practitioners and analysts from the Asia-Pacific, China, and the United States, they analyse the structural preferences of regional actors as they pertain to regional stability, and frame these preferences in terms of what they reveal about the preferred end-states of regional actors; that is, the long-term roles they wish China and the United States would play in the region.

The report, which was published in September, was discussed during a live webinar. Two of the report authors, Dr. Manpreet Sethi and Joel Petersson-Ivre introduced the report, and discussed its findings with Zack Cooper, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute; Melissa Conley-Tyler, Executive Director of Asia-Pacific Development, and Professor Yu Tiejun from Peking University. The discussion was moderated by APLN Policy Fellow Tanvi Kulkarni.