Kissinger on China’s potentially dominant “Asian bloc”

Cold War diplomat and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger writes about China's potential "Asian bloc" in the latest Foreign Policy magazine:

"Its invulnerable second-strike nuclear capability will eventually be paired with an expanding range of antiship ballistic missiles and asymmetric capabilities in new domains such as cyberspace and space.

China could secure a dominant naval position through a series of island chains on its periphery, some fear, and once such a screen exists, China’s neighbors, dependent as they are on Chinese trade and uncertain of the United States’ ability to react, might adjust their policies according to Chinese preferences.

Eventually, this could lead to the creation of a Sinocentric Asian bloc dominating the western Pacific."

The op-ed is here.

My own piece "China's Backyard, America's Military Playground" — which touches on the two nations' competing orbits of military influence in Southeast Asia — is here.