The Avoidable War, Kevin Rudd
The Avoidable War, Kevin Rudd
2 Rating(s)
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The Avoidable War
The Dangers of a Catastrophic Conflict between the US and Xi Jinping's China

Author: Kevin Rudd

Narrator: Kevin Rudd, Rafe Beckley

Unabridged: 16 hr 9 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 03/22/2022


Synopsis

A war between China and the US would be catastrophic, deadly, and destructive. Unfortunately, it is no longer unthinkable. 

The relationship between the US and China, the world’s two superpowers, is peculiarly volatile. It rests on a seismic fault—of cultural misunderstanding, historical grievance, and ideological incompatibility. No other nations are so quick to offend and be offended. Their militaries play a dangerous game of chicken, corporations steal intellectual property, intelligence satellites peer, and AI technicians plot. The capacity for either country to cross a fatal line grows daily. 

Kevin Rudd, a former Australian prime minister who has studied, lived in, and worked with China for more than forty years, is one of the very few people who can offer real insight into the mindsets of the leadership whose judgment will determine if a war will be fought. The Avoidable War demystifies the actions of both sides, explaining and translating them for the benefit of the other. Geopolitical disaster is still avoidable, but only if these two giants can find a way to coexist without betraying their core interests through what Rudd calls “managed strategic competition.” Should they fail, down that path lies the possibility of a war that could rewrite the future of both countries, and the world.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Lukasz on April 23, 2022

4.5/5 An excellent book for those who would like to better understand the current world and the precarious balance of power between China and America. The author gives great insights into Xi Jinping's vision of China's development and goals and possible scenarios of shifts in geopolitics in the 2020s......more

Goodreads review by Ben on April 04, 2022

This was an outstanding read on China, foreign policy, and international relations - leading towards potential conflicts (war). It detailed some impressive predictions between China-US, and Russia. It also did an amazing job at looking towards what could happen between these superpowers in the futur......more

Goodreads review by Frederic on October 10, 2022

Author and former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd studied China in university, is fluent in Mandarin and writes like the diplomat he was. He scrupulously avoids taking sides and probably means well with this book. Who wouldn't share Rudd's view that war between China and the USA ought to be avo......more

Goodreads review by Changho on August 06, 2022

This is a good entry primer for Chinese affairs. But this is not a great book to seek much insights into how to avoid a war. It is one thing to lay out an entire spectrum of Chinese affairs that are readily available in the public domain. The book packs them well. But merely putting out all the ingr......more


Quotes

 “A lifelong student of China, Kevin Rudd has become one of today’s most thoughtful analysts of China’s development. The Avoidable War focuses on the signal challenge posed by China’s evolution to America and to world order. Can the US and China avoid sleepwalking into a conflict? Rudd offers constructive steps for the two powers to stabilize their relations.”—Henry A. Kissinger

“Wise counsel from a seasoned statesman who recognizes the real risk of catastrophic war and illuminates a promising path the US and China could take to avoid it.”—Graham Allison, Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at the Harvard Kennedy School, and author of Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap?

“An extraordinary tour de force that analyzes the most important geopolitical relationship of the twenty-first-century. Organized, like Dante’s Inferno, into concentric circles that describe in brilliant detail the challenges ahead and a timely prescription to avoid a catastrophe. Let us truly hope that we can indeed avoid a war that looms upon us like a dark tower, threatening all the progress we have made.”—Admiral James Stavridis, 16th supreme Allied Commander of NATO, former dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University

“Based on a lifetime of observation and experience of China and America, Kevin Rudd has produced a rare book of wisdom and a detailed roadmap for how the two countries can manage their strategic competition and avoid a disastrous war.”—Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor, Emeritus

“An exploration of one of the world’s most significant and fraught international relationships… An accessible primer on the evolving China–U.S. rivalry.”—Kirkus