Kaplan on the future of the Chinese competition with the United States
My CNAS roomie, Robert Kaplan, has a good piece on China in the new issue of Foreign Affairs that is getting attention from Pentagon strategists. "[T]he United States, the hegemon of the Western Hemisphere, will try [in the years ahead] to prevent China from becoming the hegemon of much of the Eastern hemisphere," he writes. ...
My CNAS roomie, Robert Kaplan, has a good piece on China in the new issue of Foreign Affairs that is getting attention from Pentagon strategists.
My CNAS roomie, Robert Kaplan, has a good piece on China in the new issue of Foreign Affairs that is getting attention from Pentagon strategists.
"[T]he United States, the hegemon of the Western Hemisphere, will try [in the years ahead] to prevent China from becoming the hegemon of much of the Eastern hemisphere," he writes. "This could be the signal drama of the age."
He looks primarily to the seas as the arena of future military competition. Finally free of land threats, the Middle Kingdom "is now free to work at building a great navy," he writes. "In the 21st century, China will project hard power abroad primarily through its navy."
Two other novel and provocative thoughts:
- He warns that a democratic China would be "an even more dynamic great power than a repressive China."
- He also predicts that as Chinese power waxes, the United States might form a balancing strategic partnership with Russia.
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