Managing China  Robert D. Kaplan looks ahead to the great
military and diplomatic challenge of the twenty-first century
By Katie Bacon  In his cover story in the current Atlantic,
Robert D. Kaplan urges us to look beyond the conflict in Iraq to
a much more serious one that may be looming over the horizon.
The great challenge of the twenty-first century, Kaplan argues,
will be to somehow figure out how to shape—rather than fall prey
to—China's inevitable economic and military rise. Kaplan
describes his article "How We Would Fight China" as a "shot
across the bow,"—a stark call to action designed to goad us into
preparing for what he predicts will be "the defining military
conflict of the twenty-first century: if not a big war with
China, then a series of Cold War-style standoffs that stretch
out over years and decades." There are plenty of signs that
China is beginning to flex its military muscles. It has been
investing in both nuclear and diesel submarines, developing
long-range missiles, and strengthening i