A concise and informative history of how China divided in 1949 into two regimes, why they struggled to achieve the same political goal-reunification of China-and why their struggle today continues in a more complex and dangerous way. The authors detail how the changes brought about by the 2000 election not only intensified the conflict between the regimes but locked both sides into a new contest that increased the probability of war rather than peace.

Ramon H. Myers is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. Jialin Zhang is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution.