China and America are world powers without serious rivals. They eye each other warily across the Pacific; they communicate poorly; there seems little natural empathy. A massive geopolitical contest has begun. 

America prizes freedom; China values freedom from chaos. 
 America values strategic decisiveness; China values patience. 
 America is becoming society of lasting inequality; China a meritocracy. 
 America has abandoned multilateralism; China welcomes it. 

Kishore Mahbubani, a diplomat and scholar with unrivalled access to policymakers in Beijing and Washington, has written the definitive guide to the deep fault lines in the relationship, a clear-eyed assessment of the risk of any confrontation, and a bracingly honest appraisal of the strengths and weaknesses, and superpower eccentricities, of the US and China.