Active Denial: A Roadmap to a More Effective, Stabilizing, and Sustainable Defense Strategy in Asia

As relations between the United States and China deteriorate, chances of a military clash are growing. Multiple factors could lead to a major escalatory spiral of conflict in East Asia. Such an escalation is undesirable as, among other things, it would be a threat to the security and prosperity of the United States.

The Quincy Institute led a multi-year study by three members of QI’s East Asia Program and seven external partners — spearheaded by former QI Research Fellow Rachel Esplin Odell — to lay out a safer military strategy for the United States in Asia. The strategy, called Active Denial, outlines the military posture needed to reduce chances of escalation in the event of conflict, while ensuring that any Chinese military offensive cannot succeed. If implemented, the strategy will result in annual savings of roughly $75 billion (about 10 percent) by 2035 compared to the Trump administration’s defense plan.

Join us for a conversation where we will explore these and other findings from Quincy Institute’s new report, Active Denial: A Roadmap to a More Effective, Stabilizing, and Sustainable U.S. Defense Strategy in Asia. The panel discussion will be led by Michael D. Swaine, Director of the East Asia Program at the Quincy Institute; Mike Mochizuki, Japan-U.S. Relations Chair in Memory of Gaston Sigur at the Elliott School of International Affairs in George Washington University and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Quincy Institute; and Eric Heginbotham, Principal Research Scientist at the MIT Center for International Studies. Former Research Fellow at the Quincy Institute Rachel Esplin Odell will moderate.