U.S.-China Strategic Relations and Competitive Sports

 “This book contains valuable essays that stretch our imagination. Football, soccer, baseball, chess, weiqi and other games provide interesting metaphors that help us understand the various dimensions of the cooperative rivalry between the US and China. It is a fascinating read.”

 --Joseph S. Nye is University Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at Harvard University, USA and author of  Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump 

 “A thoughtful account of how sports shape strategic culture in the U.S. and China—and how sports competitions, in turn, can provide clues for managing the U.S.-China rivalry.”

--Graham Allison, Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at Harvard University, USA

 “A thought-provoking and fascinating exploration of American and Chinese strategic approaches.”

--Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, USA

 “This work offers exceptionally useful insights into the cultural underpinnings of China's value system and, thus, its motivations. Dr. Lai, one of America's most informed experts on the Peoples' Republic of China, is uniquely positioned to understand and explain how PRC leaders think.”

 --Douglas C. Lovelace, Jr., Esquire, USA is a widely published senior national security strategist, former Director of the U.S. Army Strategic Institute, and Editor and Coauthor of Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents, Oxford University Press.


 This book investigates cultural influences of competitive sports on U.S. and Chinese strategic thinking and tactical behavior.


Most competitive sports owe their origins to human fighting. Although they are “ritualized contests,” competitive sports have retained many aspects of human warfare, especially the use of strategy and tactics that moves human contest beyond military clashes to the subjugation of opponents without bloodshed.

 Cultural influences usually go unnoticed. Indeed, Washington often conducts foreign affairs like football games without knowing that is the case. Likewise, Beijing moves in Weiqi style subconsciously. This book uncovers these influences.



David Lai, Ph.D. is currently an adjunct professor at the George Washington University, USA and previously professor at the U.S. Army and Air War Colleges respectively.