The author presents a well researched and fairly unbiased overview of the current situation vis a vis the U.S. and China. The situation is truly frightening, to say the least.
The author exchanged his thoughtful and well researched tone for wishful thinking in the final chapters where he lays out what the US and China can do to prevent war. Indeed, some of the authors conclusions are naive in the extreme (which he himself admits). His suggestion major domestic structural reforms in the US and China that would counter major long term political trends in each country.
The author makes clear that war between China and the west should be avoided. One avenue that the author points out, but doesn’t explore is that the US still has a quickly closing window to economically ruin the CCP while it’s vulnerable. Contrary to the authors obvious personal bias, it appears that in 2018 Trump might have stumbled onto the right way to deal with China after all; albeit for different reasons.
A less naive assessment of the facts presented in this book would lead a non-Chinese national reader to conclude that China has the same ideological, national, territorial and geo-political goals as the USSR. Therefore the US and the free world is left with two choices:
1. Immediately economically strangle the evil empire like Reagan did to the USSR or
2. Prepare to bend the knee with the rest of the world to our new glorious overlords