In summary, then, the optimal strategy for the United States and other defenders of a threatened state in the anti-hegemonic coalition would be a combination of denial and cost imposition: denial defense against the fait accompli, with cost imposition layered on that effective denial to persuade China to accept the defenders’ preferred rule sets for limited war and as an option for inducing China to accept local defeat and agree to terminate the war. Denial would defeat China’s theory of victory against the vulnerable state; cost imposition layered atop denial would induce it to accept the
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