THE GEOGRAPHY OF CHINESE POWER - The Revenge of Geography - page 166

particular geography of East Asia, the struggle between China and the United States will
remain more stable than that between the Soviet Union and the United States. That is be-
cause American maritime power during the Cold War was not enough to contain the Soviet
Union; a significant land force in Europe was also required. But even given a faintly pro-
Chinese Greater Korea, no such land force will ever be required around the Rimland of
Eurasia, in which the U.S. Navy will be pitted against a weaker Chinese one. 59 (The size of
the U.S. land force in Japan is diminishing, and is in any case directed not at China, but at
North Korea.)
Still, the very fact of Chinese economic power—increasingly accompanied by military
power—will lead to a pivotal degree of tension in the years ahead. To paraphrase
Mearsheimer's argument from The Tragedy of Great Power Politics , the United States, as
the regional hegemon in the Western Hemisphere, will seek to prevent China from becom-
ing the regional hegemon over much of the Eastern Hemisphere. 60 This could be the signal
drama of the age. Mackinder and Spykman would not be surprised.