A notable quote on p. 273 of Robert S. Ross'
The Indochina Tangle: China’s Vietnam Policy 1975-1979
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1988):
Attention to the role of the Soviet Union in China's Vietnam policy takes seriously Beijing's claim that it feared Soviet encirclement. Such fear is neither unusual in international politics nor unwarranted. Encirclement has long been a strategy of states seeking to undermine the security of their adversaries.
How, then, does one view the U.S. military deployments in western Asia? By stationing large numbers of troops and equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States has nearly encircled Iran with hostile forces. Moreover, if one considers our close relations with India and Israel, Pakistan and Syria are also partially encircled by the nuclear-equipped forces of multiple adversaries. Surely this must impact the strategic considerations in the region, not to mention the behavior of all of the states involved. Yet we seldom hear this discussed in our press outlets.
No comments:
Post a Comment