Bruce A. Elleman is William V. Pratt Professor of International History, U.S. Naval War College. He is the author of many books, including Diplomacy and Deception: The Secret History of Sino-Soviet Diplomatic Relations, 1917–1927; Modern Chinese Warfare, 1795–1989; Wilson and China: A Revised History of the Shandong Question; Moscow and the Emergence of Communist Power in China, 1925–30: The Nanchang Uprising and the Birth of the Red Army; High Sea’s Buffer: The Taiwan Patrol Force, 1950–1979; Taiwan Straits: Crisis in Asia and the Role of the U.S. Navy; International Competition in China, 1899–1991: The Rise, Fall, and Restoration of the Open Door Policy; and China’s Naval Operations in the South China Sea: Evaluating Legal, Strategic and Military Factors.

S. C. M. Paine is William S. Sims Professor of History and Grand Strategy in the Strategy and Policy Department, U.S. Naval War College. She is the author of Imperial Rivals: China, Russia and TheirDisputed Frontiers, winner of the Jelavich Book Prize; The Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895: Perceptions, Power and Primacy; The Wars for Asia, 1911-1949, winner of the Leopold Prize + PROSE Award for European & World History; and The Japanese Empire: Grand Strategy from the Meiji Restoration to the Pacific War. Less