WASHINGTON ¨C Of all the factors that shape a country¡¯s global fortunes, geography is the most immutable. A country is where it is. The advantages and disadvantages that come with its location typically shift slowly, if at all. That¡¯s what makes China¡¯s bold effort to remake the strategic landscape of Eurasia so remarkable. Beijing is placing a trillion-dollar wager that it can transform its strategic geography from a constraint into a powerful geopolitical asset.
This would be quite a turnaround, given all the liabilities of China¡¯s geography. On its maritime periphery, it faces U.S. treaty allies and strategic partners that provide a springboard for the projection of American power into the Western Pacific. To the north, there is an ambitious Russia, which has more often been an enemy than a friend. On China¡¯s western and southern flanks, there are countries such as Vietnam and India, which can be expected to oppose Beijing¡¯s rise, and the Central Asian states, which have traditionally been a site of competition with Russia.
If the United States has the advantage of being surrounded by fish and docile neighbors, China has long been ringed by rivals.
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