The toxic relationship between China and Japan threatens to upend the peace underwritten by the United States in the region since the allied victory in World War II. Combined with Donald Trump's disdain for America's longstanding alliances and China's own regional ambitions, east Asia is entering a new era of instability and conflict. The confrontational course on which China and Japan are set is no simple spat between neighbors: The United States would be automatically involved on the side of Japan in any military conflict between the two countries, with the fallout setting off an economic tsunami around the world. Taking us behind the headlines, Asia's Reckoning reveals not only the widening geopolitical cracks in a region that has flourished with the protection of Pax Americana for more than half a century, but also how U.S. power will stand or fall on its ability to hold its ground in Asia. Book jacket.