Jared McKinney is a Non-Resident Junior Fellow at the Center for the National Interest and a double degree Msc. candidate at Peking University (School of International Studies) and the London School of Economics and Political Science (Department of International History). Nicholas Butts is an incoming Crown Prince Frederik Fellow at Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is a double degree candidate in International Affairs at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Peking University, where he was awarded the National Southwest Associated University Guocai Scholarship Prize (西南联大国采). Nicholas is a Pacific Forum CSIS Young Leader. Follow him on Twitter at @Nicholas_Butts.

Image: The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington is underway in the South China Sea​. Flickr/Official U.S. Navy