Foreign Affairs. January-February 2020

The New China Scare

January/February 2020 69

that sought to destroy it—all with astonishing success. Washington
has been the opposite of vacillating or overly focused on the short

term. In 2019, U.S. troops are still on the banks of the Rhine, they are
still safeguarding Seoul, and they are still in Okinawa.
China presents a new and large challenge. But if Washington can
keep its cool and patiently continue to pursue a policy of engagement

plus deterrence, forcing China to adjust while itself adjusting to make
space for it, some scholar decades from now might write about the
United States’ not-so-secret plan to expand the zone of peace, pros-
perity, openness, and decent governance across the globe—a mara-

thon strategy that worked.∂