Chinese Checkers

On the James Webb column, reader Jeff writes:

His main point is that while we’re looking one move ahead on the chessboard, China is not only thinking several moves ahead…but is playing three-dimensional Vulcan chess, trying to get all the elements lined up for a geopolitical struggle with the United States.

If it all sounds Tom Clancyish, it is – Chinese juggling of multinational alliances of convenience are a staple of some of his recent novels. I can’t agree with Webb’s apparent belief that Iraq shouldn’t be dealt with…but is there anyone in the current Administration thinking farther out than November 2004?

I always hear this argument about Chinese diplomacy, but I don’t buy it, and never have. It reminds me of what fear-mongers said about Japan Inc. a dozen years ago. “Japanese business plots far ahead, American business only plans for the next quarter, blah blah blah.”

Chinese diplomacy has, in the last fifty years: