ABSTRACT
Notions of geopolitics serve as the basis for national strategy, which can be understood as a planned and orchestrated response to a particular geopolitical condition with political as well as military dimensions. Classical geopolitics was an expression of its age and developed as a product of colonial great power or, subsequently, Cold War superpower rivalry. The Western Pacific has become a crucial geopolitical area for China’s extended security, prompting it to develop the naval and military capabilities one way or another to force an American withdrawal from the area. China has triggered an awareness of geopolitical vulnerability and the need for an adequate defence posture in Japan, which until then had largely rested in pacifist contentment. China’s pressure in the Western Pacific has presented the United States with a geopolitical dilemma as it cannot simply continue with its forward deployed military presence as before.
