In the context of China’s pursuit of regional hegemony in Asia, whether the United States sustains or eliminates its existing alliances, and whether and how it forms new ones, should be a function of the need to form and sustain an anti-hegemonic coalition that is stronger than China and its own pro-hegemonic coalition, especially in the context of a systemic regional war. US alliances should be designed to serve this goal by providing sufficient reassurance to nervous coalition members that they will be protected from China’s focused and sequential strategy.
