US-Chinese Strategic Triangles

S. Mahmud Ali graduated from the Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul, and was subsequently educated, first, at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI), London, and then, at King's College London, where, after a year of post-graduate studies, he embarked on doctoral research and was granted a Ph.D. in "War Studies" by the University of London. Mahmud Ali worked successively as a broadcast-journalist, editor, regional analyst and senior manager at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) World Service, London, for over two decades, during which period he was editorially responsible for coverage of developments in South-, Southeast-, and East Asia. He is the author of eight academic titles including five volumes on the post-1949 evolution of US-Chinese relations.

This book reveals the nature of Sino-US strategic competition by examining the influence exerted by major secondary stakeholders, e.g. Japan, Russia, India, the Koreas, and ASEAN, on the two powers, USA and its rival China, who consider each other as a source of greatest challenges to their respective interests. By adopting "strategic triangles" as the analytical framework and assessing triangular relational dynamics, such as US-China-Japan or US-China-Russia, the author illustrates how secondary stakeholders advance their own interests by exploiting their respective linkages to the two rivals, thereby, shaping Sino-US completive dynamics. This work adds a regional and multivariable perspective to the understanding of the Indo-Pacific's insecurity challenges.