S.C.M. Paine, University Professor of History and Grand Strategy at the U.S. Naval War College, is the author of many books, including Imperial Rivals: China, Russia and Their Disputed Frontier (Routledge, 1996), The Japanese Empire: Grand Strategy from the Meiji Restoration to the Pacific War  (Cambridge University Press, 2017) and The Wars for Asia, 1911-1949 (Cambridge University Press, 2012).