Debates about the balance of power in Asia typically rely on one of three views. Some analysts believe, fatalistically, that China has become an unassailably dominant force in the region. Others place continued faith in U.S. primacy and see China as weak, vulnerable, and ultimately containable. Still others, including U.S. allies such as Australia and Japan, tout the emergence of a multipolar Indo-Pacific that could arrest China’s ambitions for regional hegemony.
An accurate understanding of the balance of power in Asia is critical to the formulation of sound U.S. strategy on [China](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/regions/china). But none of these prevailing narratives get things quite right. Asia today is uniquely bipolar, dominated by the world’s only two superpowers. Asia is not a European-style concert of powers, a Middle Eastern free-for-all, or a Cold War*–*era system of opposing blocs. Countries in Asia are for the most part hedging between two giants. The even balance between the United States and China also makes Asia’s power politics the most stable among the major regional theaters.
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[SS from essay by Susannah Patton, Director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Lowy Institute and the Project Lead for the[ Asia Power Index](https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpower.lowyinstitute.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cdkortava%40foreignaffairs.com%7C74dd13ffd2f74b55b0b808dcd1148fb2%7C146cc3db32f24b3c815625bcc3553464%7C0%7C0%7C638615133465101874%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=V4vZ2X8kvTyAsBQFRR%2BlY2HtI51O6CAOsvRcOG4d5kU%3D&reserved=0), which measures resources and influence to rank the relative power of states in Asia; and Hervé Lemahieu, Director of Research at the Lowy Institute. He developed the Asia Power Index in 2018.]
Debates about the balance of power in Asia typically rely on one of three views. Some analysts believe, fatalistically, that China has become an unassailably dominant force in the region. Others place continued faith in U.S. primacy and see China as weak, vulnerable, and ultimately containable. Still others, including U.S. allies such as Australia and Japan, tout the emergence of a multipolar Indo-Pacific that could arrest China’s ambitions for regional hegemony.
An accurate understanding of the balance of power in Asia is critical to the formulation of sound U.S. strategy on [China](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/regions/china). But none of these prevailing narratives get things quite right. Asia today is uniquely bipolar, dominated by the world’s only two superpowers. Asia is not a European-style concert of powers, a Middle Eastern free-for-all, or a Cold War*–*era system of opposing blocs. Countries in Asia are for the most part hedging between two giants. The even balance between the United States and China also makes Asia’s power politics the most stable among the major regional theaters.