China as a Go player
Aug 28th, 2004 by jimmoore
International relations may be more like the game of Go than Chess—and yet we seem to have a political class, a defense establishment, and a spy apparatus geared for the later. So we think of ourselves as moving against Iraq and Afghanistan, and–as long as we have lots of pawns to lose–we are doing pretty well, albeit at great expense.
What we are not focused on are international linkages and surrounds. We are not focused on China’s rapidly expanding leadership of the world. China is creating linkages among nations and industries, and surrounding the United States with its sphere of influence. While the US is distracted by the Middle East, China moves across the world. Across South Asia, into Africa, China is solidifying its networks. While we fight a “war on terrorism” China expands a worldwide community of authoritarians. This, btw, is the significance of China’s presence in Sudan.