Journal Article

Nixonian Geopolitics and the U.S.-China Rivalry

Sempa, Francis P

2019

Overview

Twenty-first century geopolitics will be defined by the rivalry between the United States and China for global preeminence. Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has sought to compete with but also to engage China during the latter's rise to superpower status. During this time period, U.S. statesmen have been diverted from focusing on the U.S.-China rivalry by Saddam Hussein in the Persian Gulf, the Serbs in the Balkans, and the Global War on Terror after the attacks of 9/11. China under President Xi Jinping has embarked on a geopolitical offensive known as the Belt and Road Initiative, which seeks to extend China's economic and political influence throughout Eurasia and to challenge U.S. maritime supremacy. U.S. policymakers in devising a grand strategy to meet this challenge would be wise to reflect on the statecraft of former U.S. President Richard Nixon and his chief foreign policy adviser Henry Kissinger, which sought to exploit divisions between Soviet Russia and China to combat Soviet expansionism. Nixon's \"triangular diplomacy\" sought to ensure the geopolitical pluralism of Eurasia by, in Halford Mackinder's words, adjusting American ideals to the lasting realities of our earthly home.

• Publisher: American Society for Competitiveness
• Subject: Competition / Diplomacy / Geopolitics / Imperialism / International relations-US / Kissinger, Henry / Kissinger, Henry A / Mackinder, Halford / National security / Nixon, Richard M / Politics / Presidents