A New Cold War or a Weaponised Stalemate? Rivalry and Interdependence in US-PRC Relations

A New Cold War: US-China Relations in the Twenty-First Century, written by Zeno Leoni, lecturer in the Defence Studies Department at King’s College, is a thought-provoking contribution to one of the key debates shaping the contemporary international order: whether the evolving relationship between the United States (US) and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) can be characterised as a ‘New Cold War’. Rather than merely juxtaposing the historical Cold War with the present moment, the book seeks to extrapolate insights both from the original Cold War and from the broader concept of ‘cold war’. This focus allows the author to shed light on the complex nature of US-PRC relations, in which structured competition coexists alongside persistent forms of cooperation.