Description
This collaborative study conducts a comprehensive examination of China’s global strategy as it relates to preparing for a potential war with the West, using potential futures to help shape the present. It explores a hypothetical limited conflict scenario between the United States and the People’s Republic of China, predicting China’s deliberate decisions to horizon escalate the conflict based on historical trends. This novel approach is a unique addition to the literature on great power competition, offering detailed, tangible forecasts of China’s upcoming actions and corresponding recommendations to help mitigate the rising power’s growing global influence. The study is separated into four parts. The first part examines China’s logic and decision making to appreciate the adversary’s perspective and avoid mirror imaging. The second section establishes the scenario and includes assessments of seven distinct regions of the world. The third section shifts the assessment to the space and information domains. The final section focuses the regional and domain analysis into a global discussion, synthesizes the book’s findings, and consolidates the recommendations of the individual chapter authors in a concise, easily digestible manner.
Chapter 2 – ©2026 C. Anthony Pfaff. All rights reserved.
Chapter 3 – ©2026 Sheena Chestnut Greitens. All rights reserved.
Chapter 9 – ©2026 Jacob Stoil. All rights reserved.
ISBN
1-58487-878-9
Publication Date
11-9-2026
Publisher
USAWC Press
City
Carlisle Barracks, PA
Keywords
People’s Republic of China (PRC), People’s Liberation Army, Taiwan, horizontal escalation, strategic competition, access, basing, contested logistics, information operations, Indo-Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Africa, South America, space
Disciplines
Defense and Security Studies
Recommended Citation
Brennan Deveraux and Joshua Arostegui,
Forecasting China’s Posturing for a Global War (Carlisle Barracks, PA: US Army War College Press, 2026),
https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/991
