Chinese strategy is “grand” in every sense of the word. It marries the geopolitical insights of Alfred Thayer Mahan, who argued that great powers must build ocean-going navies and rule the waves, with those of Halford Mackinder, who popularized the idea that the Eurasian “heartland” could become an unassailable geopolitical fortress if controlled by a single actor.45 That strategy envisions preeminence within China’s regional surroundings as a springboard to global influence; it wields a vast array of tools to achieve a vast array of military, economic, diplomatic, and ideological ends.
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