Introduction

Are we on the brink of a new cold war? The question isn't as outlandish as it seemed only a few years ago. A classic struggle for power between two countries is unfolding at the same time as economic co operation between them is becoming deeper and more fundamental. What will happen now that america's post cold war engagements in irak and afghanistan have run their course and us. Attention has pivoted to asia? Can china go on seeing the united states as both an object of emulation and a barrier to its rightful place on the world stage?