I’ve concluded that thinking about China as a country in the European sense is a mistake. It is closer to the Roman Empire. It is willing to use its territories as thralls to supply its center. It is preoccupied with border security–with some reason, historically. On this last point, if you check the maps you will see that China has expanded its borders to mountain ranges. This is true in Xizjiang, just as it is true next to Korea. It is in China’s interest to have a weak puppet regime on the other side of the mountains, and if it can’t have a puppet, it can have a regime that is hostile to everyone else and dependent upon China. There’s no place for hostile armies to mass, and no place for them to enter. On the other hand, once the border IS breached somewhere, everything is in danger. But the large spaces make an elastic defense possible and invite a war of counterattack.
Geography shapes strategy and commerce; strategy and commerce shape states. Strategy, like politics, is an art of the possible.
