Asia´s Reckoning

The dramatic story of the relationship between the world´s three largest economies, one that is shaping the future of us all, by one of the foremost experts on east Asia.
The Chinese often quote an ancient idiom when speaking about Japan - two tigers cannot live on one mountain. The saying underlines Beijing´s view that the two Asian superpowers´ tense competition is a zero-sum game, with one only winner possible. But the idiom misses one thing. Standing between these two nations, and alongside Tokyo, is Washington. Any confrontation between the world´s second- and third largest economies would inevitably involve the US, itself locked in a geopolitical battle with China. The fallout of a military conflict would be immense, an economic tsunami disrupting the global hub of trade in east Asia and washing through the economies of every country in the world. Richard McGregor´s book tells the story of this trilateral relationship since 1971, when Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger opened China to the West, to Beijing´s emergence as a global player today.